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BX  9178  .H36  H3  1847  c.2 
Hamilton,  James,  1814-1867 
The  harp  on  the  willows 


THE 

HARP  ON  THE   WILLOWS, 

REMEMBERING  ZION, 

FAREWELL  TO  EGYPT, 
THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  HOUSE, 

THE  DEW  OF  HERMON, 

AND 

DESTINATION  OF  THE  JEWS. 


BY  THE 

REV.  JAMES  ^HAMILTON, 


OF    LONDO] 


FROM   THE   FORTY-FIFTH   LONDON   EDITION. 


NEW  YORK: 

ROBERT  CARTER,  58  CANAL  STREET ; 
AND  PITTSBURG,  56  MARKET  STREET. 

1847. 


THE 


HARP  ON   THE   WILLOWS. 


Two  months  ago  I  went  to  Edinburgh  to 
attend  the  Convocation  of  Ministers.  Like  ma- 
ny of  my  countrymen,  my  heart  used  to  beat 
harder  when  I  came  in  sight  of  that  city  of  re- 
formers and  covenanters,  of  hallowed  Sabbaths, 
and  crowded  churches,  and  solemn  assemblies. 
Its  towers  and  steeples  used  to  say,  Mount  Zion 
stands  most  beautiful.  But  on  this  occasion 
"how  did  the  city  sit  solitary  !"  Its  pleasant 
sanctuaries  had  a  look  of  widowhood  ;  and  the 
most  melancholy  object  of  all  was,  a  gorgeous 
unfinished  structure  on  the  Castle  hill,  reared 
for  the  Assemblies  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
but  more  likely  to  be  their  cenotaph.  Ministers 
preached,  and  congregations  worshipped,  as 
under  warning  to  quit :  and  there  was  much 
of  a  farewell  solemnity  in  every  service.  In 
private  it  was  the  same ;  and,  amidst  many 
joyful  Meetings  and  much  longed-for  inter- 
course, there  was  a  prevailing  tendency  to  sad- 


4  THE    HARP 

ness.  There  was  a  mournful  and  foreboding 
feeling,  like  that  which  reigned  in  Jerusalem 
after  the  voice  had  cried  in  the  temple,  "  Arise, 
depart !"  and  just  before  the  abomination  of  des- 
olation took  his  stand  in  the  holy  place.  There 
was  a  conviction  deeper  than  ever  that  the 
cause  of  the  Church  was  the  cause  of  God,  and 
therefore  not  soon  likely  to  become  the  cause  of 
man.  However,  a  few  "  hoped  against  hope  ;" 
and  the  last  evening  I  spent  in  Edinburgh,  and 
being  rather  a  cheering  word,  I  remember  it  the 
better,  in  the  course  of  conversation  about  the 
Church's  prospects,  an  accomplished  barrister 
said  in  my  hearing,  "  I  have  great  hope  from  the 
honesty  of  Englishmen.  The  English  are  a 
just  people,  and,  if  they  understood  our  case, 
would  do  us  justice." 

Now,  dear  friends,  to  be  as  honest  as  your- 
selves, I  have  great  fear  that  you  do  not  under- 
stand the  case,  and  some  fear  that  you  will  not 
study  it.  If  the  Waldenses  were  about  to  be 
ejected  from  those  valleys,  which  they  hold  by 
solemn  treaty,  I  could  count  on  your  interfer- 
ence. Or  if  the  civil  courts  of  Constantinople 
were  tampering  with  the  internal  arrangements 
of  our  Ambassador's  chapel,  I  believe  you 
would  think  it  right  that  our  government  should 
remonstrate.  Now  that  the  Queen  of  Mada- 
gascar is  concussing  Christian  consciences,  I 
know  that  many  of  you  are  indignant,  and 


ON    THE    WILLOWS.  5 

^ould  interpose  your  protection  if  you  could. 
If  you  will  hear  me  patiently,  I  promise  to  show 
that  the  cases  are  too  parallel ;  and  as  I  shall 
endeavour  to  relieve  the  subject  of  all  intricate 
details  and  metaphysical  niceties,  so  I  earnestly 
trust  that,  if  I  make  out  a  case  of  grievance  or 
of  suffering  for  conscience'  sake,  you  who  have 
ere  now  listened  to  a  voice  from  Piedmont,  will 
not  shut  your  ears  against  a  voice  from  the 
Church  of  Scotland. 

At  the  Revolution — which  you  and  we 
agree  in  calling  glorious — the  government 
restored  to  Scotland  the  religion  which  the  Re- 
formers gave  it.  Presbyterianism  was  estab- 
lished ;  that  is  to  say,  a  Presbyterian  minister 
was  planted  in  every  parishv  A  house  was  as- 
signed to  this  minister  to  live  in ;  four  or  five 
acres  of  land  were  annexed  to  this  house,  on 
which  some  oats  and  barley  might  grow,  and 
a  cow  might  pasture ;  and  then  to  purchase 
books  and  furniture,  and  fuel,  and  other  crea- 
ture-comforts not  indigenous  to  the  glebe,  a 
small  salary  from  a  portion  of  the  ancient  tithes 
was  superadded.  In  consideration  of  the 
manse,  glebe,  and  stipend,  the  people  of  that 
parish  were  entitled  to  the  services  of  the  min- 
ister, could  claim  their  seat  in  the  parish  church, 
and  enjoy  rich  and  poor  alike,  the  ordinances 
of  religion.  In  those  happy  days  each  parish 
chose  its  own  elders,  and  they,  along  with  such 
I* 


3  THE    HARP 

of  the  .anded  proprietors  as  were  memoers  of 
the  Church,  chose  the  minister.  And  as  they 
usually  chose  the  best,  Scotland  "  flourished  by 
the  preaching  of  the  Word." 

So  eminently  had  Scotland  become  a  Chris- 
tian nation,  that  when  a  union  with  England 
began  to  be  agitated,  the  main  subject  of  soli- 
citude was  the  national  religion.  The  wisest 
men  then  perceived,  what  has  since  been  am 
ply  verified,  that  the  Union  would  be  produc- 
tive of  many  temporal  benefits  to  the  Scottish 
people.  But  all  were  apprehensive  that  the 
Church  might  eventually  suffer.  They  knew 
that  in  the  Parliament  which  would  hereafter 
govern  them,  not  one  vote  in  ten  would  be  a 
Presbyterian  vote  ;  and  when  any  question 
arose  affecting  the  Church  of  Scotland,  it 
might  be  misunderstood  and  mis-settled.  To 
relieve  this  nervousness  of  the  nation,  a  clause 
was  put  into  the  Articles  of  Union  providing 
that  the  Church  of  Scotland,  as  it  then  exist- 
ed, should  never  be  altered,  and  that  the  Sove- 
reign should  swear,  on  his  accession  to  main- 
tain that  Church  in  all  its  privileges. 

This  solemn  stipulation  quieted  the  appre- 
hensions of  the  people  ;  and  after  the  pathos 
naturally  felt  at  the  "  end  of  the  auld  sang"* 

*  "  There's  an  end  of  an  auld  sang" — the  observation  of  the 
Lord  Chancellor  Seafield,  as  he  adjourned  the  Scottish  Par- 
liament for  ever. 


ON    THE    WILLOWS.  7 

had  passed  away,  the  country  was  settling 
down  into  complacency  with  the  new  state  of 
things,  when  an  incident  occurred  which  veri- 
fied the  gloomiest  forebodings  of  the  old  pa- 
triotic party,  and  fixed  in  the  vitals  of  the 
Scottish  Establishment  an  arrow  which,  after 
rankling  for  a  century,  threatens  to  be  fatal  now. 
Towards  the  latter  end  of  the  reign  of 
Queen  Anne,  it  is  well  known  that  the  Jaco- 
bite party  were  engaged  in  machinations  to 
subvert  the  Protestant  succession  and  restore 
the  Pretender  to  the  throne.  Rightly  judging 
that  Presbyterianism,  and  the  Presbyterian 
clergy,  formed  the  main  barrier  to  their  purpo- 
ses in  the  North,  they  resolved,  if  possible,  to 
neutralize  this  element.  It  struck  them  that 
if  they  could  get  the  appointment  of  the  cler- 
gy into  their  own  hands,  they  might  gradually 
fill  the  Church  with  men  after  their  own  hearts. 
Accordingly,  to  the  consternation  of  every  leal- 
hearted  Scotchman,  word  arrived  in  Edinburgh 
in  the  end  of  March,  1712,  that  a  bill  had 
been  introduced  into  Parliament  for  bestowing 
on  certain  patrons  the  power  of  presenting 
ministers  to  all  the  parishes  in  Scotland.  Some 
of  the  ablest  ministers  were  forthwith  despatch- 
ed to  London  with  instructions  to  offer  the  most 
strenuous  opposition  to  the  measure.  But  it 
was  the  policy  of  its  authors  to  precipitate  it  to 
the  utmost,  that  it  might  be  an  Act  of  Parlia- 


8  THE    HARP 

merit  before  Scotland  could  raise  its  remon 
strance,  and  they  succeeded.  Though  Princi- 
pal Carstares  and  his  colleagues  posted  to  Lon- 
don as  fast  as  their  horses  could  carry  them, 
they  found  the  Bill  in  the  House  of  Lords  al- 
ready :  and  though  they  succeeded  in  getting 
a  hearing  at  the  bar  of  the  House,  Lord  Boling- 
broke  had  made  up  his  mind  ;  and  no  sooner 
had  the  counsel  for  the  Scotch  Commissioners 
ended,  than  it  was  moved  that  the  Bill  be  now 
read  a  second  time,  which  being  agreed  to,  it 
was  committed,  reported,  and  read  a  third 
time — the  whole  five  stages  being  condensed 
with  dramatic  effect  into  a  single  day.  By 
this  Act,  Presbyteries  were  "  obliged  to  receive 
and  admit  such  qualified  persons  as  should  be 
presented  by  the  respective  patrons." 

Heavy  as  was  this  blow,  and  discouraged  au 
people  were,  there  was  still  some  hope  concern 
ing  this  thing.  So  deep-rooted  was  the  popu- 
lar aversion  to  patronage,  that  it  was  some  time 
before  patrons  ventured  to  issue  presentations, 
or  presentees  to  accept  them,  and  some  even 
hoped  that  the  act  might  tacitly  subside  into  a 
dead  letter.  On  the  other  hand,  though  the 
General  Assembly*  felt  that  they  and  their  peo- 
ple had  lost  a  'privilege — and  that  they  felt  this 
is  sufficiently  proved  by  the  fact,  that  down  to 

*  The  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Court  of  Scotland,  consisting 
of  ministers  and  ruling  elders. 


ON   THE    WILLOWS.  9 

1784  they  continued  to  protest  against  patron- 
age as  a  "  grievance" — they  hoped  that  they 
had  not  lost  their  freedom — that  even  were 
patronage  in  active  operation  there  might  still 
be  protection  for  the  people  in  the  courts  of  the 
Church.  There  existed  on  the  Scottish  statute- 
book  and  unrepealed  law,  declaring  that  "  the 
Lord  Jesus,  as  king  and  head  of  his  Church, 
hath  therein  appointed  a  government  in  the 
hand  of  Church-officers,  distinct  from  the  civil 
magistrate ;"  and  "  that  the  civil  magistrate 
may  not  assume  to  himself  administration  of  the 
Word  and  Sacraments,  or  the  power  of  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

They  believed  that  the  Act  establishing  the 
Church  had  made  the  spiritual  courts  the  final 
judge  in  causes  spiritual,  even  as  it  had  made 
the  civil  courts  the  final  judge  in  causes  civil. 
They  hoped,  that  in  virtue  of  this  co-ordinate 
and  independent  jurisdiction,  they  might  decide 
for  themselves  whether  the  patron's  nominee 
was  or  was  not  a  qualified  person,  and  admit 
or  reject  him  accordingly.  At  all  events,  as  a 
presentation  to  a  living  is  a  mere  civil  affair, 
and  the  admission  to  the  cure  of  souls  is  a 
spiritual  act,  the  Church  courts  imagined  that 
if  they  should  at  any  time  be  constrained,  in 
compliance  with  the  prayers  of  the  people,  to 
reject  a  patron's  presentee,  it  would  be  compen- 
sation enough  if  the  patron  got  the  fruits  of  the 


10  THE    HARP 

benefice  (as  the  law  provides),  in  which  case 
the  patron  might  give  his  protege  the  living, 
and  a  more  acceptable  pastor  might  get  the 
cure  of  souls.  By  considerations  like  these,  the 
Church  of  Scotland  flattered  herself  that  her 
people  would  still  enjoy  protection,  and  her 
Church  courts,  spiritual  freedom.  This  persua- 
sion became  positive  assurance,  when  it  was 
found  how  scrupulously  the  secular  courts  ab- 
stained from  tampering  with  spiritual  sentences. 
In  those  days  the  Supreme  Civil  Court  of  Scot- 
land* refused  to  interfere  when  asked  to  dis- 
charge or  overrule  the  deliverances  of  the  eccle- 
siastical courts  ;  and  they  did  so  on  the  simple 
ground  that  the  Church  courts  knew  best  how 
to  deal  with  spiritual  questions ;  and  even  if 
they  did  not,  the  constitution  of  the  country 
had  made  the  Church  Courts  supreme 

IN  THE  SPIRITUAL  PROVINCE. 

Whether  Lord  Karnes  and  Monboddo  and 
the  other  judges  of  last  century  were  too  fas- 
tidious in  their  non-interference — whether  they 
were  actuated  by  a  spirit  of  chivalrous  etiquette, 
or  by  their  knowledge  of  constitutional  law — 
certain  it  is,  that  they  forbore  from  reviewing 
the  sentences  of  spiritual  courts,  even  as  the 
spiritual  courts  forbore  from  reviewing  theirs. 
The  General  Assembly  did  not  decide  on  dis- 
puted march-dykes,  or  marriage  settlements ; 

*  The  Court  of  Session. 


ON    THE    WILLOWS.  11 

nor  did  the  Court  of  Session  decide  on  the  fit- 
ness of  ministers  for  their  parishes,, or  of  candi- 
dates for  admission  to  the  communion-table. 
The  General  Assembly  imposed  no  fines,  and 
sent  nobody  to  prison.;  and  the  Court  of  Ses- 
sion, with  similar  forbearance,  neither  ordained 
ministers,  nor  deposed  them — neither  admitted 
church  members,  nor  excommunicated  them. 
Somehow  or  other,  they  held  on  their  several 
ways  in  wondrous  harmony.  There  were  no 
collisions,  for  each  kept  his  own  line. 

Dear  reader,  if  I  thought  you  had  patience 
for  it,  I  would  tell  you  how  the  collision  arose, 
and  I  am  sure,  if  you  knew  all  the  particulars 
and  were  on  the  jury,  you  would  give  a  deo- 
dand  on  the  Court  of  Session  engine. 

It  was  in  the  year  1834,  on  the  24th  of  May 
— I  remember  it  well,  for  I  was  there  myself — 
and  in  the  Tron  Kirk  of  Edinburgh,  where  the 
General  Assembly  was  sitting,  that  a  ruling 
elder  rose  to  bring  forward  a  motion.  His 
name  was  Sir  James  MoncriefT,  a  man  long 
known  at  the  bar  of  Scotland  as  the  best  law- 
yer there,  and  by  that  time  one  of  the  Lords  of 
Session.  He  made  a  speech  very  learned  and 
very  long; — of  which  speech  the  substance 
was,  that  ever  since  the  Reformation,  the 
Church  of  Scotland  had  paid  respect  to  the 
wishes  of  the  people  in  the  settlement  of  min- 
isters ;  so  much  so,  that  according  to  its  uni- 


12  THE    HARP 

form  interpretation,  no  minister  was  qualified 
for  a  parish,  unless  he  were  acceptable  to  its 
Christian  people,   the   communicants  of   that 
parish.     But  though  the  doctrine  of  the  Church 
had  been  uniform,  its  practice  had  varied.     A 
call  or  invitation  from  the   people  had  always 
been,  in  Presbyterial  usage,   a  pre-requisite  to 
the  settlement  of  a  minister.     But  sometimes 
this   call   had   been   so   scanty   that   it  could 
scarcely  be  deemed  an  invitation.     And  with 
a  view  to  make  the  practice  correspond  with 
the  theory,  he  would  propose  that,  whenever  a 
patron   issued   a   presentation,   the   very   first 
thing  the  Presbytery  should  do,  would  be  to 
send  the  presentee  to  preach  in  that  parish,  and 
then  to  call  together  the  male  heads  of  families 
in  communion  with  the  Church,  and  ascertain 
their  mind.     If  they  consented   to  have   this 
man  for  their  minister,  good  and  well.     The 
Presbytery  should  proceed  to  examine  him,  and 
if    they   found   his   literature,   theology,    and 
character,  sufficient  to  warrant  them  in  ordain- 
ing him,  they  should  admit  him  to  that  parish. 
But  if  a  majority  came  forward,  and  solemnly 
declared  that-  apart  from  all  factious  motives 
—they  were  constrained,  by  regard  for  their 
own  and  their  children's  souls,  to  refuse  this 
man   for   their   minister,   Lord  Moncrieff  pro- 
posed, that  this  Veto  by  &  majority  of  the  people 
should  disqualify  that  presentee,  and  that  the 


ON   THE    WILLOWS.  13 

Presbytery  should  not  intrude  him  into  that 
parish  against  the  expressed  mind  of  its  Chris- 
tian householders;*  but  should  send  word  to 
the  patron  that  he  might  present  another.  The 
majority  of  the  Assembly  thought  this  an  ex- 
cellent proposal ;  all  the  rather  that  the  Crown 
lawyers,  the  Lord  Advocate  and  Solicitor- 
General,  declared  that  it  was  perfectly  compe- 
tent for  the  Assembly,  in  virtue  of  its  inherent 
powers,  to  pass  such  a  law,  and  as  it  was  a 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Civil  Court,  and  one  so 
noted  for  his  legal  skill,  who  introduced  the 
measure.  And  so,  to  the  great  joy  of  thou- 
sands, the  Yeto  Law  was  passed.t 

For  some  time  it  wrought  delightfully,  and 
almost  every  one  was  saying,  How  much  the 
patrons  are  improved !  for,  in  point  of  fact,  the 
patrons  presented  such  acceptable  ministers, 
that  out  of  200  only  ten  were  vetoed.     But  at 

*  The  Veto  Law  restricted  the  privilege  of  objecting,  in  the 
settlement  of  ministers,  to  those  parishioners  who  were  both 
heads  of  houses  and  members  of  the  Church.  In  Scotland, 
none  are  communicants,  or  members  of  the  Church,  except 
those  with  whose  religious  knowledge  and  good  character 
the  ministers  and  elders  are  satisfied.  In  Church-of-Scotlani 
language,  the  people  are  the  communicants,  the  members  oJ 
the  Church,  the  professing  Christian  people. 

t  It  is  important  to  remark,  that  in  this  Assembly  were  no 
ohapel  ministers,  or  ministers  of  quoad  sacra  parishes.  Besides 
the  Crown  Lawyers  in  Scotland,  the  Lord  High  Chancellor, 
and  the  Attorney- General  of  England,  both  extolled  the  Veto 
Law,  as  a  great  public  improvement. 

2 


14  THE    HARP 

last,  the  new  law  fell  heavy  on  one  individual. 
A  licentiate,! — was  presented  to  a  large  parish, 
with  3,000  inhabitants.  Two  of  the  people 
thought  that  he  might  do  well  enough  for  a 
minister  ;  but  all  the  rest  thought  that  he  was 
not  fit  to  be  their  minister.  Consequently,  the 
Presbytery  refused  to  admit  him.  Hereupon 
this  man  and  his  patron  raised  an  action 
against  the  Presbytery,  and  petitioned  the  Court 
of  Session  to  find  that  the  Presbytery  was 
bound  to  take  him  on  trial,  with  a  view  to  ad- 
mission. So  far  as  any  spiritual  consequences 
(such  as  ordination)  were  implied  in  the  de- 
cision, the  Presbytery  declined  the  competency 
of  the  Court  of  Session  to  judge  the  case  :  but 
as  they  were  anxious  to  ascertain  whether  their 
rejection  of  a  vetoed  presentee  implied  that  he 
should  also  lose  the  living,  they  allowed  the 
case  to  be  argued  in  their  name  so  far  as  any 
civil  effect  was  concerned.     Five  of  the  judges 

*  In  the  Church  of  Scotland  there  is  a  staff  of  probation- 
ers or  licentiates  who  are  allowed  to  preach,  but  who  exer- 
cise no  other  function  of  the  ministry.  These  probationers 
are  eligible  for  th%  ministry,  but  they  are  not  ministers.  They 
have  received  no  ordination,  and  are  permitted  to  preach 
merely  to  make  trial  of  their  gifts.  If  a  probationer  who  is 
presented  to  a  parish,  be  not  unacceptable  to  the  people,  he 
is  ordained  and  becomes  a  minister.  Allowing  that  patronage 
is  a  trust  reposed  in  patrons  by  the  State,  it  becomes  an  in- 
teresting question,  whether  this  trust  is  designed  for  the  be- 
nefit of  probationers  or  the  good  of  the  people  7  It  has 
usually  been  exercised  for  behoof  of  the  former. 


ON    THE    WILLOWS.  15 

held  that  this  was  not  a  case  for  the  Court  of 
Session  at  all ;  but  that  if  they  were  to  give  an 
opinion,  they  must  say  that  the  General  As- 
sembly had  done  quite  right  in  passing  the 
Veto  Law,  and  the  Presbytery  had  done  no 
wrong  in  obeying  it.*  But  the  other  eight 
judges  were  of  a  contrary  opinion,  and  the 
House  of  Lords  affirmed  their  judgment. 

Since  this  decision,  it  has  become  the  fashion 
in  the  North  to  carry  every  case  out  of  the 
Church  courts  into  the  Court  of  Session.  Pres- 
byteries are  prohibited  from  deposing  ministers 
convicted  of  drunkenness  and  theft.  Ministers 
are  prohibited,  under  pain  of  imprisonment, 
from  preaching  in  certain  districts  of  country. 
Kirk  sessions  are  forbidden  to  debar  from  the 
Lord's  table  parties  whose  presence  they  con- 
sider a  desecration.  And  the  General  Assem- 
bly itself  is  not  at  liberty  to  admit  any  member, 
whom  the  Court  of  Session  may  disapprove. 
And  so  uniformly  do  a  majority  of  their  Lord- 
ships decide  against  the  ecclesiastical  parties, 
even  when  their  decisions  contradict  one  an- 
other, that  it  has  become  the  more  prudent, 
because  more  economical  course,  to  allow  judg- 

*  Besides  Lord  Moncrieff,  the  original  author  of  the  Veto 
Law,  these  five  included  Lords  Jeffrey  (more  familiarly 
known  in  the  worlds  of  philosophy  and  criticism  as  Francis 
Jeffrey,)  Cockburn,  Glenlee,  and  Fullerton.  The  names  of 
the  other  eight,  however  respectable  in  their  station,  would 
not  be  interesting  to  English  readers. 


16  THE    HARP 

ment  to  go  forth  in  absence.  As  it  is,  the  law 
expenses  have  become  such  a  grievous  fine, 
that  the  stipend  of  some  parishes  is  arrested  for 
payment  of  costs,  and  pious  and  accomplished 
ministers,  with  their  families,  are,  in  the  absence 
of  their  wonted  income,  reduced  to  painful 
straits.  Though  this  be  matter  of  exultation 
with  their  oppressors,  and  not  complained  of 
by  the  sufferers  themselves,  the  English  nation 
is  not  what  it  was,  if  such  severities  when  known 
arouse  no  indignation. 

But  to  resume  and  end  this  narrative.  The 
Presbytery  of  Auchterarder  did  not  obey  the 
sentence  of  the  civil  courts,  ordering  them  to 
admit  to  the  ministry  the  vetoed  presentee. 
They  refused,  because  they  believed  that  the 
court  had,  in  this  cause,  no  right  to  command. 
They  refused,  because  they  thought  it  would 
be  a  solemn  mockery  and  a  sin  to  ordain  a 
man  to  a  cure  of  souls,  where  every  one  de- 
precated and  dreaded  his  admission.  They 
thought,  that  the  only  inducement  to  ordain 
him  would  be  to  give  him  a  right  to  the  sti- 
pend ;  and  as  the  patron  was  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  stipend,  he  might,  if  he  pleased, 
hand  it  over  to  his  protege.  But  the  presentee 
prosecuted  the  Presbytery  for  16,000/.  of  dam- 
ages, because  of  the  wrong  which  they  had 
done  him  in  refusing  to  admit  him ;  and  both 
the  Court  of  Session  and  the  House  of  Lords 


ON    THE    "WILLOWS.  17 

having  found  in  his  favour,  it  is  now  finally 
declared  by  the  civil  courts,  that  they  will 
enforce  their  sentences  against  the  spiritual 
courts  by  civil  pains  and  penalties ',  the  or- 
dinary compulsitors  of  the  law. 

When  this  decision  was  given  last  autumn 
it  put  an  end  to  all  expectation  from  the  civil 
courts.  Till  then,  the  most  desponding  could 
scarce  believe  their  own  forebodings,  or  per- 
suade themselves  that  their  Church  was  so 
changed  from  what  their  ancestors  had  left  it, 
and  they  themselves  once  imagined  it  to  be. 
But  the  decision  of  last  August  ended  eyery 
dream,  and  bade  the  Church  make  ready  for 
the  worst. 

It  was  in  this  emergency  that  the  Meeting  or 
Convocation  mentioned  in  the  outset  was  con- 
vened. It  originated  with  a  select  body  of  the 
oldest  and  most  experienced  ministers.  They 
invited  all  of  their  brethren  who  had  manifested 
concern  for  the  ancient  constitution  of  the 
Church,  to  assemble  in  Edinburgh,  on  the  17th 
of  November  last.  Nearly  500  came  together ; 
and  it  was  very  plain  that  no  ordinary  call 
could  have  brought  from  the  remotest  head- 
lands of  a  rugged  land,  such  a  company  in  the 
dead  season  of  the  year. 

After  a  prayer-meeting  in  St.  George's 
Church,  and  a  sermon  by  Dr.  Chalmers, — 
"Unto  the  upright  there  ariseth  light  in  the 


18  THE    HARP 

darkness," — the  ministers  adjourned  to  Rox 
burgh  Church.  Dr.  Chalmers  took  the  chair. 
It  was  agreed,  that  during  each  sederunt  three 
of  the  brethren  should  engage  in  prayer ;  and 
in  this  way  confession  and  supplication  assumed 
a  prominent  place  in  the  business  of  each  Meet- 
ing. None  but  ministers  were  present.  In  or- 
der to  encourage  each  member  freely  to  speak 
his  mind  this  privacy  was  requisite,  and  it 
tended  greatly  to  impart  a  confiding  and  con- 
versational tone  to  their  proceedings.  For  our 
own  part,  it  made  us  feel,  that  the  innermost 
side  of  good  men  is  the  best  side ;  and  whilst 
listening  to  the  brotherly  tone  of  their  com- 
munings, so  unlike  the  defiance  and  disdain  of 
high  debate,  and  to  the  noble  sentiments  of 
Christian  heroism  and  self-renunciation  which 
were  ever  and  anon  expressed,  we  wished  that 
the  world  were  present.  And,  during  the  de- 
votional exercises  and  at  intervals  throughout 
the  deliberations,  when  sudden  light  or  consola- 
tion broke  in,  in  a  way  which  brought  tears  to 
many  eyes,  we  would  have  liked  that  all  the 
Christians  in  the  kingdom  could  be  present,  for 
we  felt  assured  that  the  Lord  himself  was  there. 
And  then,  when  we  looked  at  the  materials  of 
the  Meeting  and  saw  before  us,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, all  the  talent,  and,  with  still  fewer  ex- 
ceptions, all  the  piety  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
we  wished  that  those  were  present  in  whose 


ON    THE    WILLOWS.  19 

power  it  lies  to  preserve  to  the  Scottish  Estab- 
lishment all  this  learning  and  this  worth. 
There  was  the  chairman,  who  might  so  easily 
have  been  the  Adam  Smith,  the  Leibnitz,  or 
the  Bossuet  of  the  day  ;  but  who,  having  ob- 
tained a  better  part,  has  laid  economics,  and 
philosophy,  and  eloquence  on  the  altar  which 
sanctified  himself.  There  was  Dr.  Gordon, 
lofty  in  simplicity,  whose  vast  conceptions  and 
majestic  emotions  plough  deeper  the  old  chan- 
nels of  customary  words,  and  make  common 
phrases  appear  solemn  and  sublime  after  he  has 
used  them.  There  were  Dr.  Keith,  whose 
labours  in  the  prophecies  have  sent  his  fame 
through  Europe,  and  are  yearly  bringing  con- 
verts into  the  Church  of  Christ ;  and  Mr.  James 
Buchanan,  whose  deep-drawn  sympathy,  and 
rich  Bible-lore,  and  Christian  refinement,  have 
made  him  a  son  of  consolation  to  so  many  of 
the  sons  of  sorrow.  There  were  Dr.  Welsh, 
the  biographer  and  bosom  friend  of  Thomas 
Brown  ;  Dr.  Forbes,  among  the  most  inventive 
of  modern  mathematicians  ;  and  Dr.  Paterson, 
whose  "  Manse  Garden"  is  read  for  the  sake  of 
its  poetry  and  wisdom  and  Christian  kindness, 
where  there  are  no  gardens,  and  wTill  be  read 
for  the  sake  of  other  days  when  there  are  no 
manses.  And  there  was  Dr.  Patrick  McFarlan, 
whose  calm  judgment  is  a  sanction  to  any 
measure ;  and  who,  holding  the  richest  bene- 


20  THE    HARP 

fice  in  Scotland,  most  appropriately  moved  the 
resolution,  that  rather  than  sacrifice  their  prin- 
ciples, they  should  surrender  their  possessions. 
And  not  to  mention  "names  the  poet  must  not 
speak,"  there  were  in  that  assembly  the  men 
who  are  dearest  of  all  to  the  godly  throughout 
the  land — the  men  whom  the  Lord  hath  de- 
lighted to  honour — all  the  ministers  in  whose 
parishes  have  been  great  revivals,  from  the 
Apostle  of  the  North,  good  old  Mr.  Macdonald, 
whose  happy  countenance  is  a  signal  for  ex- 
pectation and  gladness  in  every  congregation 
he  visits  ;  and  Mr.  Burns,  of  Kilsyth,  whose  af- 
fectionate counsels  and  prayers  made  the  Con- 
vocation feel  towards  him  as  a  father ;  down  to 
those  younger  ministers  of  whom,  but  for  our 
mutual  friendship,  I  could  speak  more  freely. 
When  we  looked  at  the  whole,  knowing  some- 
thing of  all,  we  felt,  first,  such  an  assembly 
never  met  in  Scotland  before  ;  secondly,  it  will 
depend  on  them,  under  God,  whether  Scotland 
can  ever  furnish  such  an  assembly  again  ;  and, 
thirdly,  what  a  blot  on  any  reign,  and  what  a 
guilt  on  any  Government,  which  casts  forth 
such  a  company  !  And  then,  after  some  sadder 
musings,  came  in  this  thought,  Yet,  what  a 
blessing  to  the  world  if  they  were  scattered 
abroad,  everywhere  preaching  the  word  ! 

Six  days  were  spent  in  deliberation.    Nearly 
all  asrreed  that  the  Church  of  Scotland  waa 


ON    THE    WILLOWS.  21 

ruined  by  the  late  decision,  and  that  she  could 
not  submit  to  these  encroachments  of  the  civil 
courts  without  losing  her  character  as  a  true 
Church  of  Christ.  The  next  question  was, 
What  should  be  done  ?  It  was  agreed  to  make 
a  final  application  to  the  Legislature  for  relief 
— for  protection  to  the  Church  courts  in  the 
exercise  of  their  spiritual  jurisdiction — and  if 
this  application  were  refused,  it  was  the  almost 
universal  conviction  that  it  would  be  the  duty 
of  ministers  and  people,  rather  than  protract 
the  struggle  and  embroil  the  country,  to  leave 
the  Establishment. 

Accordingly,  that  final  application  is  now 
made  ;  and  it  depends  very  much  on  the  peo- 
ple of  England  what  answer  shall  be  returned. 
No  measure  will  meet  the  case  which  does  not 
give  the  Church  courts  of  Scotland  freedom 
from  secular  molestation  in  the  discharge  of 
their  spiritual  functions  :  in  other  words,  no 
measure  which  does  not  give  the  ministers  and 
Christian  people  of  Scotland  the  same  immu- 
nities which  they  believed  till  now  to  be  their 
birthright,  and  which  they  unqestionably  en- 
joyed in  the  reign  of  William  III.  The  fol- 
lowing considerations  in  behalf  of  such  a  mea- 
sure, are  respectfully  submitted  to  whatever  of 
justice,  generosity,  and  Christian  principle,  may 
exist  in  England  : — 

I.  The  Treaty  of  Union  has  been  violated. 


22  THE    HARP 

By  that  treaty  it  was  solemnly  stipulated  thai 
the  Presbyterian  Church  government,  as  then 
existing,  should  be  the  only  Church  govern- 
ment within  the  kingdom  of  Scotland ;  and 
that  each  successive  sovereign,  "  at  his  or  her 
accession  to  the  crown,  should  swear  and  sub- 
scribe, that  they  shall  inviolably  maintain  and 
preserve  the  foresaid  settlement  of  the  true  Pro- 
testant religion,  with  the  government,  worship, 
discipline,  rights  and  privileges  of  this  Church, 
as  above  established  by  the  laws  of  this  king- 
dom" (of  Scotland.)  Adherence  to  this  stipu- 
lation is  farther  "  declared  to  be  a  fundamental 
and  essential  condition  of  the  said  treaty  or 
union  in  all  time  coming."  And  on  the  strength 
of  this  stipulation  the  Union  was  completed. 
Now,  among  "  the  rights  and  privileges"  which 
the  Church  of  Scotland  enjoyed  before  the 
Union,  spiritual  freedom  was  unquestionably 
one.  Her  people  were  not  liable  to  the  intru- 
sion of  unacceptable  ministers  ;  nor  were  her 
Church  courts,  when  deliberating  on  the  most 
sacred  interests  of  Christ's  kingdom,  liable  to 
the  intrusion,  the  intimidation,  and  coercion, 
of  secular  tribunals.  If  the  Church  has  lost 
her  freedom,  when  did  she  loose  it  ?  To  this 
there  is  only  one  answer :  In  the  year  1712, 
five  years  after  the  Union  was  effected  :  A  law 
was  then  enacted,  which,  if  the  interpretation 
put  on  it  by  the  civil  courts  be  sound,  has 


ON   THE    WILLOWS.  23 

robbed  the  Church  of  Scotland  of  the  dearest 
"  right,"  the  most  precious  "  privilege,"  which, 
at  the  time  of  the  Union,  she  enjoyed ;  her 
accountability,  in  sacred  things,  to  God  alone. 
If  this  interpretation  be  incorrect,  if  the  civil 
courts  misunderstand  the  law,  then  the  Legis- 
lature should  say  so,  and  rescue  the  Church 
from  the  groundless  molestations  of  the  secular 
power.  If  the  interpretation  be  correct,  if  the 
civil  courts  rightly  interpret  the  statute,  then 
the  Treaty  of  Union  is  broken,  and  Scotland 
must  look  to  the  good  faith  of  England  for 
redress. 

2.  The  case  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  is 
one  of  peculiar  hardship.  And  when  I  say  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  I  mean  those  in  the  Scot- 
tish Establishment  who  adhere,  as  almost  all 
her  pious  ministers  and  people  do  adhere,  to 
the  original  constitution  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land. 

If  they  do  not  get  redress,  they  must  leave 
the  Establishment ;  and  even  though  it  be  for 
Christ's  sake  and  the  Gospel's,  there  is  some 
hardship  in  forsaking  houses  and  lands.  The 
manses  of  Scotland  are  pleasant  homes  ;  and 
if  you  will  ask  any  friend  who  ever  took  leave 
of  one,  he  will  tell  you  that  it  was  a  desolate 
day  when  the  flitting  was  moving  down  the 
avenue,  and  after  seeing  that  the  kitchen-fire 
was  out,  and  taking  a  last  look  of  the  dis- 


24  THE    HARP 

mantled  parlour,  he  delivered  the  key  to  the 
new-comer,  shook  hands  with  the  neighbours, 
and  went  away.  The  manse  of  a  good  min 
ister  is  a  hallowed  dwelling,  and  more  of  in- 
door quiet,  and  family  affection,  and  Sabbath 
gladness,  is  condensed  into  it  than  into  any 
home  on  earth  ;  and  after  one  who  has  been 
long  its  inmate  has  taken  his  last  look  of  the 
deserted  fields  and  smokeless  chimneys,  he  feels 
it  of  little  moment  where  he  shall  kindle  his 
next  fire.  Besides,  it  is  the  place  where  all  the 
parish  naturally  resort  when  advice  or  assist- 
ance is  needed ;  where  the  sick  send  for  cor- 
dials, and  the  sad  go  for  comfort,  and  the  per- 
plexed go  for  counsel ;  and  whose  simple  hos- 
pitality ranges  from  the  Sunday  scholars  up  to 
parish  elders,  the  farmers,  and,  sometimes,  the 
laird.  The  consequence  is,  that  though  the 
Great  House  may  be  shut  up  for  years,  and  the 
landlord  with  his  establishment  cease  to  sojourn 
in  it,  except  in  rare  instances,  it  will  not  awaken 
such  tenderness  on  either  side  as  a  removal 
from  the  manse.  The  people  of  Scotland  are 
not  given  to  the  melting  mood ;  and  two  cen- 
turies ago,  when  400  ministers  were  constrained 
to  leave  their  parishes  for  conscience'  sake,  they 
felt  it  very  hard ;  but  neither  they  nor  their 
people  said  much.     When  the   creels*  were 

*  Large  panniers  slung  over  the  horse's  back,  in  which  the 
young  children  were  carried.    When  Mr.  Dunbar,  the  min- 


ON   THE    WILLOWS.  25 

getting  ready,  the  wife  would,  perhaps,  draw 
a  corner  of  her  apron  across  her  eyes,  and  the 
children  could  not  very  well  comprehend  it. 
There  was  little  demonstration  of  feeling  ;  and 
judging  by  the  peaceful  submission  of  the  pas- 
tors, and  the  silence  of  their  people,  you  would 
almost  have  thought  that  they  acquiesced  in 
the  doings  of  that  day.  It  wTas  an  illusion. 
The  heart  of  Scotland  was  heaving  with  an 
indignant  sorrow,  which  found  its  first  relief 
when  it  hurled  James  Stuart  from  the  throne. 
Should  400  ministers  again  be  forced  from  their 
people  and  their  homes,  there  wTill  be  no  com- 
motion. All  will  pass  over  silently  and  peace- 
fully ;  but  in  the  hearts  which  constitute  the 
heart  of  Scotland,  in  the  bosoms  of  its  noble- 
minded  and  Christian  people,  will  be  left  a 
lasting  and  cruel  sense  of  injury. 

There  are  other  hardships  connected  with 
this  case  which  I  will  not  weary  you  by  detailing. 
For  instance,  within  the  last  eight  years,  and 
at  a  cost  of  about  300,000/.,  the  people  of  Scot- 
land, with  a  few  extraneous  contributions,  have 
built  nearly  200  new  churches  for  themselves. 
Almost  all  of  these  churches  are  built  and  oc- 
cupied by  people  and  supplied  by  ministers  who 

ister  of  Ayr,  who  had  once  before  been  banished  from  his 
parish,  received  a  summons  to  leave  it  a  second  time,  he 
merely  said,  "Well,  goodwife,  ye  must  e'en  provide  the 
creels  again."    The  saying  became  a  Sort  of  proverb. 

3 


26  THE    HAR* 

must  leave  the  Establishment,  unless  the  Es- 
tablishment be  emancipated.  And  what  forms 
the  hardship  of  this  case  is,  that  when  the 
ministers  and  people  go,  the  churches  which 
they  have  reared  at  such  a  sacrifice  will  be 
claimed  by  others. 

Besides,  many  parishes  are  the  property  of 
a  single  individual,  and  that  individual  may  be 
so  hostile  to  the  Gospel  as  to  refuse  ground  for 
•erecting  another  place  of  worship.  Again,  the 
India  and  other  missions  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland  have  been  mainly  supported  by  the 
parties  about  to  be  driven  from  the  Church. 
The  mission  premises  will  fall  into  the  hands 
of  parties  unable  or  unwilling  to  support  them. 
The  missions  will  be  broken  up  ;  and  with 
crippled  resources,  the  faithful  remnant  will  be 
ill  able  to  organize  them  anew.  And  last  of 
all,  some  of  the  parishes  which  most  prize  the 
Gospel  are  least  able  to  support  it.  In  many 
places,  the  utmost  efforts  of  the  people  are  in- 
sufficient to  procure  food  and  raiment  for  them- 
selves. It  would  be  mockery  to  ask  them  to 
maintain  a  ministry.  It  would  be  depriving 
them  of  their  greatest  blessing  for  either  world, 
to  take  the  ministry  away.  Putting  out  of 
view  the  intrinsic  merits  of  the  case,  the  con- 
stitutional rights  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  the 
equity  of  her  claim,  it  would  surely  need  to  be 
a  strong   necessity  which  would  justify  any 


ON   THE    WILLOWS.  27 

Legislature  in  virtually  driving  from  their  homes 
500  ministers  of  Christ,  scattering  the  largest 
and  liveliest  congregations  in  Scotland ;  and 
leaving  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd  those 
parishes  which  most  prize  a  faithful  ministry. 

Perhaps  some  may  say,  But  why  go  out  1 
Who  bids  them  go  ?  Why  not  obey  the  law 
of  the  land,  and  remain  where  they  are  ?  I 
answer,  or  rather  they  answer  for  themselves, 
Because  the  law  is  such  that  they  cannot  obey 
it.  Had  they  known  soon  enough,  that  the 
civil  law  is  what  it  is  now  declared  to  be,  they 
would  never  have  entered  the  Established 
Church  ;  and  if  the  Legislature  understand 
the  law  as  the  civil  courts  interpret  it,  now  that 
they  are  in  the  Established  Church  they  must 
leave  it  again.  They  wish  to  obey  the  law  of 
the  land,  and  in  the  hope  that  haply  if  they 
were  out  of  the  Establishment  the  law  would 
then  ask  them  to  do  nothing  contrary  to  their 
consciences,  they  are  leaving  the  Establishment. 
They  go  because  they  feel  that  it  would  be 
sinful  to  remain.  Even  as  I  might  leave  my 
dwelling  if  I  found  that  the  lease  by  which  I 
hold  it  contained  a  stipulation  with  which  it 
were  criminal  to  comply.  If  I  entered  in  ig- 
norance of  its  import,  and  if,  now  that  I  know 
the  construction  put  upon  it,  I  cannot  get  it 
altered,  I  must  even  go.  It  may  be  very  hard, 
but  I  cannot  help  it.     The  ministers  of  Scot- 


28  THE    HARP 

land  wish  to  lead  quiet  and  peaceable  lives ; 
and  rather  than  disturb  the  peace,  they  will 
abandon  their  earthly  all.  Outside  of  the  Es- 
tablishment they  are  sure  to  find  a  clear  con- 
science ;  and  there  also  there  is  more  hope  of  a 
quiet  unmolested  life. 

3.  Our  Common  Christianity  is  endangered. 

The  principle  for  which  the  Church  of 
Scotland  is  contending-  is  one  dear  to  every 
Christian  man.  It  is  one  for  which  the  early 
Nonconformists  and  the  New  England  worthies 
contended  so  nobly — that  God  alone  is  Lord  of 
the  conscience,  and  that  the  highest  tribunal 
on  earth  may  not  abridge  the  liberty  where- 
with Christ  hath  made  his  people  free.  The 
doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  is,  that  the 
head  of  every  spiritual  man  is  Christ,  and 
that  when  a  company  of  spiritual  men  meet 
together  in  their  spiritual  capacity,  Christ  is 
still  their  Head. 

In  other  words,  they  hold  that  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  King  and 
Head  of  the  Church.  In  their  ecclesias- 
tical procedure  they  desire  to  follow  his  will  as 
that  will  is  revealed  in  his  word.  They  believe 
that  the  Spirit  of  God,  speaking  through  spirit- 
ual men,  is  the  sole  interpreter  of  that  Word  ; 
and  they  cannot  allow  the  commandments  of 
men — the  verdicts  of  secular  courts — to  inter- 
pose between  them  and  their  Heavenly  King. 


ON    THE    WILLOWS.  29 

Every  Bible  Christian  will  sympathize  with 
them  here.  Daniel  and  his  friends  were  not 
rebels.  They  were  faithful  to  their  king, 
though  the  king  was  a  Pagan,  and  their  con- 
queror. But  in  matters  of  faith  they  deemed 
it  no  disloyalty  to  disregard  his  decrees.  The 
apostles  respected  lawful  authority,  but  with 
the  commission  of  their  Master,  "  Preach  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature,"  they  could  not  suffer 
any  tribunal  to  interfere.  "  We  ought  to  obey 
God  rather  than  men."  And  every  Christian, 
be  he  a  minister  or  a  private  member  of  the 
Church,  will  acknowledge  that  there  are  many 
things  "  pertaining  to  the  lawT  of  his  God"  in 
which  he  could  not  consent  to  be  ruled  by 
secular  men. 

The  Church  of  Scotland  is  an  Established 
Church.  Its  ministers  are  endowed.  But  it 
has  always  been  their  belief  that  in  accepting 
this  endowment  they  surrendered  nothing. 
Their  theory  of  an  Establishment  is,  that  the 
nation  selects  a  Church  whose  constitution  and 
worship  it  approves,  and  on  this  Church,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  nation,  bestows  the  bounty 
of  an  endowment.  But  they  do  not  see  how 
this  necessarily  implies  subjection  to  the  State, 
or  the  loss  of  any  spiritual  privilege.  Suppose 
a  rich  man  endowed  a  Dissenting  chapel,  it  is 
presumed  that  upon  the  whole  he  approves  of 
the  doctrines  taught  and  the  worship  practised 
3* 


30  THE    HARP 

there ;  whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  their  accept- 
ing of  his  liberality  does  not  imply  that  they 
give  him  the  power  of  admitting  or  rejecting 
the  members,  or  of  tampering  with  the  inter- 
nal order  of  that  Church. 

The  Church  of  Scotland  existed  as  a  Church 
before  it  became  an  Establishment.  The  na- 
tion found  it  a  Church  already  existing.  The 
nation  approved  its  polity,  its  doctrines,  and 
worship.  The  nation  offered  to  take  it  even  as 
it  stood,  and  endow  it.  The  Chuch  accepted 
the  nation's  offer.  But  so  far  from  surrendering 
any  peculiarity  or  privilege,  it  was  expressly 
stipulated  that,  in  accepting  this  endowment, 
the  Church  should  surrender  nothing — that  it 
should  remain  the  same  free,  and  spiritual,  and 
independent  Church  which  it  had  ever  been. 
And  whatever  may  be  the  case  with  other  en- 
dowed Churches,  it  has  always  been  the  belief 
of  its  members  that  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
though  Established,  is  free — as  free  as 
Churches  not  Established  are.  In  other  words, 
the  office-bearers  and  members  of  the  Scotch 
Establishment  believed  that  if  civil  courts  found 
a  pretext  for  interfering  with  them,  they  would 
find  as  good  a  pretext  for  interfering  with  the 
office-bearers  and  members  of  non-established 
Churches. 

In  this  confidence,  the  Church  of  Scotland 
has  not  erred.     In  the  case  of  the  Scotch  Seces- 


ON    THE    WILLOWS.  31 

sion  Church,  the  Court  of  Session  has  recently 
laid  down  the  principle,  that  even  this  Church, 
in  the  exercise  of  its  spiritual  jurisdiction,  is 
amenable  to  the  civil  magistrate.  The  Court 
of  Session  claims  the  power  of  discharging  se- 
ceder  ministers  and  elders  from  proceeding 
against  heretical  or  disorderly  members,  in 
cases  where  civil  consequences,  such  as  loss  of 
character  or  emolument,  are  involved.  And  as 
every  case  may  be  reduced  to  this  category,  the 
Court  of  Session  virtually  claims  the  power  of 
reviewing  and  altering  the  sentences  of  all  re- 
ligious communities,  established  and  non-es- 
tablished, within  the  kingdom  of  Scotland. 

I  think  that  all  Christian  men  should  view 
this  last  result  with  consternation.  It  is  the 
working  out  of  a  principle  which  every  faithful 
follower  of  Christ  is  bound  to  resist  in  its  begin- 
nings, for  it  will  eventually  be  the  destruction 
of  all  our  Churches,  and  the  death  of  religious 
freedom. 

Independent^  of  this,  I  cannot  view  the 
coming  overthrow  of  the  Scotch  Establishment 
— for  if  its  best  ministers  and  most  devoted  mem- 
bers be  driven  out  of  it,  it  is  virtually  over- 
thrown— I  cannot  contemplate  the  destruction 
of  the  Scotch  Establishment  at  the  present  mo- 
ment without  apprehension.  Different  Churches 
have  been  honoured  to  testify  for  different  truths ; 
but  of  all  national  Churches  the  Church  of 


32  THE    HARP 

Scotland  has  borne  the  loudest  and  most  em- 
phatic testimony  of  the  Supremacy  of  Christ. 
It  has  testified  for  this  truth  in  opposition  to 
the  supremacy  of  the  priesthood  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  the  civil  power  on  the  other.  It 
protests  that  the  clergy  shall  not  be  "  lords  over 
God's  heritage :"  but  recognising  every  regen- 
erate man  as  one  of  the  "  royal  priesthood," 
claims  for  the  Christian  people  rights  with 
which  even  the  Christian  pastor  must  not  inter- 
meddle. 

And  on  the  other  hand  it  protests,  that 
Cesar  shall  not  claim  the  things  which  belong 
to  God  ;  but  believing  that  Christ's  kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world,"  it  claims  for  the  rulers  in 
Christ's  house,  rights  and  privileges  with  which 
the  secular  ruler  must  not  interfere.  These 
privileges  of  the  Christian  people,  and  this  in- 
dependence of  the  Church,  are  obnoxious  alike 
to  spiritual  despots  and  unbelieving  worldlings. 
The  lordly  ecclesiastic  cannot  trust  the  people ; 
the  infidel  civilian  cannot  trust  the  Church. 
The  supremacy  of  Christ  is  doubly  assaulted  at 
this  day ;  and  if  the  faithful  Witness  which 
has  prophecied  this  truth  so  long  should  now 
be  slain,  a  main  barrier  to  Infidel  and  Papal 
incursions  will  be  taken  out  of  the  way. 

Christian  Brethren  of  this  free  English  land, 
I  leave  the  matter  with  you.     Necessity  was 


ON    THE    WILLOWS.  33 

laid  on  me  when  I  took  up  this  pen,  and  noth- 
ing but  a  solemn  conviction  of  duty  could  have 
urged  me  to  bring  this  matter  before  you  in  a 
season  of  so  many  and  momentous  exigences  as 
is  this.  I  believe  that  the  case  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland  is  a  case  of  injustice  and  oppression, 
and  I  believe  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  peo- 
ple of  England,  by  petitioning  Parliament  and 
enlightening  their  respective  representatives,  to 
redress  the  wrong  and  remove  the  grievance. 
I  have  much  faith  in  the  justice  of  English- 
men, and  some  experience  of  their  generosity ; 
but  I  have  more  faith  in  Christianity,  than 
even  in  national  character.  I  believe  that  a 
man  who  is  both  just  and  generous  may  be  too 
busy  to  attend  to  an  appeal ;  or  even  if  he  do 
attend,  that  he  may  miss  the  merits  of  the  case, 
and  not  comprehending  it,  may  pronounce  an 
unrighteous  judgment.  But  I  believe  this  is  a 
case  which  every  enlightened  Christian  may 
understand,  for  its  first  principles  are  familiar  to 
him.  And  I  believe,  moreover,  that  it  is  a  case 
in  which  English  Christianity  is  concerned, 
"  for  if  one  member  suffer,  all  the  members  suf- 
fer with  it."  And  I  believe,  finally,  that  it  is  a 
case  in  which  English  Christians  will  lend 
their  sympathy  and  aid — for  such  is  the  Mas- 
ter's will:  "Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and 

SO  fulfil  THE  LAW  OF  CHRIST." 


REMEMBERING  ZION. 


TO  SCOTCHMEN  IN  LONDON. 


When  the  Israelites  were  in  a  city,  vast  and 
ungodly,  like  London, — a  city  without  a  Sab- 
bath— they  used  when  they  had  opportunity, 
to  sit  down  and  talk  of  the  fair  land  and  the 
lovely  temple  from  which  they  had  been 
wrenched  away.  "  By  the  rivers  of  Babylon, 
there  we  sat  down  ;  yea,  we  wept  when  we 
remembered  Zion."  Dear  fellow-countrymen, 
most  of  you  are  so  far  like  the  Israelites,  that 
you  remember  with  tenderness  the  land  of  your 
birth,  and  cannot  bear  that  others  should  speak 
of  it  disparagingly.  You  like  to  be  reminded 
of  the  scenery  of  Scotland,  the  summer  ver- 
dure of  its  straths  and  glens,  and  the  polished 
fulness  of  its  deep  blue  lakes,  its  wailing  win- 
ter torrents,  and  the  snow-laden  mountains 
which  feed  them.  And  you  love  its  ancient 
minstrelsy,  the  gathering  songs,  in  whose  high 
pulse  the  hero-hearts  of  the  olden  time  still  throb, 


REMEMBERING   ZION.  35 

and  those  pathetic  dirges  which  were  nature's 
own  anthems,  chanted  by  moorland  winds  and 
lonely  waterfalls,  long  before  man  set  them  to 
his  music.  But  there  are  glorious  things  of 
Scotland  which  you  have  still  more  reason  to 
remember  ;  you  have  not  forgotten  the  schools 
and  sanctuaries,  and  sabbath-days,  which  once 
were  Scotland's  own ;  and  perhaps,  you  will 
not  refuse  to  listen  a  few  moments,  whilst  we 
would  call  them  to  remembrance.  Let  us 
here,  in  this  busy  tumultuous  Babylon,  sit 
down  for  a  little  and  remember  our  Zion. 

You  remember  the  Sabbath  days  of  Scot- 
land. You  remember  how  the  Sabbath  was 
wont  weekly  to  set  every  house  in  order  through- 
out the  land.  You  remember  the  Saturday 
evening's  preparation  for  the  Sabbath's  rest ; — 
the  early  cessation  of  labour  in  the  fields  and 
factories,  the  timely  marketing,  the  lustration  of 
each  apartment,  the  arranging  of  household 
furniture,  the  fetching  home  of  water  from  the 
well,  and  the  storing  of  faggots  for  the  fuel,  the 
busy  exertions  of  young  and  old  to  anticipate 
and  supersede  all  Sabbath  toil,  which  resulted 
in  imparting  beforehand  a  look  of  Sabbatic 
neatness  and  tranquillity  to  the  well-ordered 
habitation.  You  remember,  too,  the  friendly 
visits  which  neighbour  families  were  wont  to 
exchange  that  evening,  loth  to  invade  the  sanctity 
of  one  another's  houses  on  the  Lord's  own  day ; 


36  REMEMBERING    ZION. 

but  glad  to  take  advantage  of  this  breathing 
time,  to  cement  those  friendships  which  they 
meant  to  be  hereditary.  You  remember  the 
Sabbath  dawn,  with  its  morning  orisons,  and 
the  prompt  preparations  for  the  house  of  God. 
You  remember  the  fresh  and  wholesome  as- 
pect of  the  mustering  population,  as  they 
wended  slowly  through  the  church-yard  ;  the 
spectacled  matron  with  her  bulky  Bible  wrap- 
ped in  its  snowy  kerchief,  and  provided  with  a 
fragrant  sprig  of  some  favourite  herb :  the 
cottar  in  the  homespun  suit,  which  the  Sabbath 
storms  of  many  winters  had  washed  but  had 
not  tattered  ;  and  the  artizan  with  his  children, 
whose  countenances  forgot  their  week-day  toil, 
as  they  put  off  their  week-day  garments.  If 
it  were  a  parish  over  which  a  man  of  God  pre- 
sided, you  remember  the  reverence  of  their 
worship  and  the  solemnity  of  their  hearing; 
whilst  one  who  understood  the  case  of  each, 
spoke  home  to  the  hearts  of  all,  and  their  com- 
mon confessions,  and  thanksgivings,  and  sup- 
plications, uttered  by  one  voice,  were  echoed  by 
a  hundred  hearts.  You  remember  the  heart- 
music  which  you  sometimes  heard  at  the  up- 
rising of  the  great  congregation,  when  the  burly 
voice  of  manhood  and  the  quivering  notes  of  palsy 
stricken  age,  "young  men  and  maidens,  old  men 
and  children,"  praising  God,  told  that  he  had 
made  their  hearts  right  glad.  You  remember  the 


REMEMBERING    ZION.  37 

Sabbath  eve,  when  the  children's  tasks  were 
over,  and  the  sermons  had  been  repeated  ;  and 
with  the  Bible  or  the  Pilgrim's  Progress,  or  the 
Four-fold  State,  each  hied  away  to  the  barn  or 
the  fir  plantation,  or  some  of  the  thousand  cot- 
tage oratories,  which  God  knows  full  well  in 
that  land  of  many  worshippers,  till  the  down- 
ward sun  reminded  them  that  it  was  time  to 
close  these  solitary  studies,  and  gather  round 
the  household  hearth  once  more. 

O  Scotland !  much  I  love  thy  tranquil  dales  ; 
But  most  on  Sabbath  eve,  when  low  the  sun 
Slants  through  the  upland  copse,  'tis  my  delight, 
Wandering  and  stopping  oft  to  hear  the  song 
Of  kindred  praise  arise  from  humble  roofs ; 
Or,  when  the  simple  service  ends,  to  hear 
The  lifted  latch,  and  mark  the  grey-haired  man, 
The  father  and  the  priest  walk  forth  alone, 
Into  his  garden  plot,  or  little  field, 
To  commune  with  his  God  in  secret  prayer. 

We  could  recal  scenes  more  sacred  still, — 
the  solemnities  of  communion  seasons, — the 
hallowed  incidents  of  domestic  life, — and  the 
dying  testimonies  and  exhortations  of  well- 
assured  believers.  The  memory  of  many  a 
reader  can  recal  the  whole,  for  it  is  not  so  long 
ago  since  the  beauty  of  holiness  adorned  many 
regions  of  that  land  ;  the  relic  of  better  days, 
or  the  result  of  a  religious  revival  in  these  latter 
times.  But  there  is  no  need.  It  is  generally 
4 


38  REMEMBERING    ZION. 

conceded,  that  Scotland  was  once  a  religious 
country — more  so.  perhaps,  than  any  nation  in 
Christendom  ;  and,  it  is  as  generally  conceded, 
that  in  its  better  days,  Scotland  owed  to  its 
church  whatever  family  or  personal  religion  it 
possessed.  But  on  such  a  subject,  it  is  safest 
to  hear  a  stranger.  I  therefore  quote  the  words 
of  one  who  paid  a  long  visit  to  that  kingdom  up- 
wards of  a  century  ago,  and  whose  verdict  is  more 
decisive,  inasmuch  as  he  was  neither  a  Scotch- 
man nor  a  Presbyterian.  "  When  we  view  the 
soundness  and  purity  of  her  doctrine — the 
strictness  and  severity  of  her  discipline — 
the  decency  and  order  of  her  worship — the 
gravity  and  majesty  of  her  government  : 
when  we  see  the  modesty,  humility,  and  yet 
steadiness  of  her  assemblies  ;  the  learning,  dili- 
gence, and  painfulness  of  her  ministers  ;  the 
awful  solemnity  of  her  administration  ;  the 
obedience,  seriousness,  and  frequency  of  hev 
people  in  hearing,  and  universally  an  air  ot 
sobriety  and  gravity  on  the  whole  nation  ;  we 
must  own  her  to  be  at  this  time,  the  best  regu 
lated  national  church  in  the  world,  without 
reflection  upon  any  of  the  other  nations,  where 
the  protestant  religion  is  established  and  pro- 
fessed."* 

Assuming,  therefore,  that  Christianity  once 
throve  wonderfully  in  our  native  land,  and  as- 
*  Defoe's  Memoirs  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  1717. 


REMEMBERING    ZION.  39 

suming  that  the  Church  of  Scotland  was  the 
instrument  which  God  employed  to  bring  about 
this  flourishing  state  of  religion,  it  may  be 
worth  while  to  inquire,  whether  there  be  any 
peculiarity  in  that  church  to  which  these  bles- 
sed results  are  owing.  And  in  doing  this,  we 
wish  not  to  disparage  other  denominations. 
We  believe  that  God  has  owned  many  churches 
as  well  as  ours.  We  have  Christian  friends  in 
the  Church  of  England  whom  we  dearly  love. 
We  rejoice  to  know  that  Independents,  and 
Baptists,  and  Wesleyans,  and  many  others  can 
produce  seals  of  apostleship,*  in  multitudes  of 
converted  souls,  as  well  as  we.  But  we  do 
think,  if  Church  History  is  of  any  use,  that 
we  should  search  it  to  see  which  form  of  Chris- 
tianity best  fulfils  the  purposes  of  a  Church  of 
Christ :  and  we  do  think  it  no  slight  matter  to 
depart  from  scriptural  rules  and  usages,  even 
in  the  minutiae  of  church  government  and  wor- 
ship. And  from  all  that  we  know  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  the  history  of  other  churches, 
we  feel  truly  thankful  that  we  are  members  of 
the  Scottish  Church. 

I.  We  are  thankful  for  its  doctrinal  stand- 
ards. They  are  clear  and  simple,  and  at  every 
sentence  they  appeal  to  the  written  word  of 
God.  They  are  self-consistent.  There  is  not 
a  word  in  the  confession  which  contradicts  the 

*  1  Cor.  ix.  2. 


40  REMEMBERING    ZION. 

Catechism,  and  not  a  word  in  either  which  con- 
tradicts the  Scriptures.  We  are  the  more  thankful 
for  this  after  observing  that  conscientious  mem- 
bers of  other  churches  are  embarrassed  by  real 
or  apparent  contradictions  in  their  standards, 
which  it  requires  an  exercise  of  an  ingenuity 
hurtful  to  the  conscience,  to  reconcile  with 
themselves  or  with  the  truth.  The  standard? 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland  contain  the  Reform 
ation  doctrines  in  their  fulness.  They  are 
not  peculiar  to  our  Church.  They  were  pre- 
pared by  an  assembly  of  the  most  gifted  and 
godly  divines  in  Britain,  and  are  the  result  of 
years  spent  in  deliberation,  mutual  conference, 
and  prayer.  Speaking  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly,  says  their  contemporary,  Richard 
Baxter,  "  The  divines  there  congregated  were 
men  of  eminent  learning  and  godliness,  and 
ministerial  abilities  and  fidelity.  And  being 
not  worthy  to  be  one  of  them  myself,  I  may 
the  more  freely  speak  that  truth  which  I  know, 
even  in  the  face  of  malice  and  envy  ;  that  as 
far  as  I  am  able  to  judge  by  the  information 
of  all  history  of  that  kind,  and  by  any  other 
evidences  left  us,  the  Christian  world,  since  the 
days  of  the  apostles  had  never  a  synod  of  more 
excellent  divines  (taking  one  thing  with 
another)  than  this  synod  and  the  synod  of 
Dort  were.''*     And  his  verdict  is  confirmed  by 

*  Baxter's  Life  and  Times,  folio,  p.  73. 


REMEMBERING    ZION.  41 

the  enlightened  and  devoted  Archbishop  Usher. 
The  Christian  world  has  given  its  suffrage  in 
favour  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  for  no 
summary  faith  has  been  so  widely  taught  as 
its  Shorter  Catechism.  It  is  a  favourite  with 
almost  all  the  Evangelical  denominations. 
And  is  it  not  a  matter  of  thankfulness  to  be- 
long to  a  church  which  at  once  enjoys  scriptu- 
ral standards,  and  symbolizes  with  the  other 
Churches  of  Christ. 

II.  We  are  thankful  for  the  simple  and  spi- 
ritual worship  which  God  has  preserved  in  the 
Church  of  Scotland.  There  is  no  church 
which  he  has  more  thoroughly  delivered  from 
carnal  ordinances  and  commandments  of  men. 
Those  who  worship  the  Father  in  spirit,  find 
nothing  here  to  trammel  or  encumber  them. 
Those  who  cannot  so  worship,  will  find  no 
subsiitute  for  devotion  to  delude  them.  We  do 
not  wish  to  introduce  any  thing  into  our  wor- 
ship which  our  Master  did  not  warrant,  and 
which  his  first  disciples  did  not  practise.  The 
psalms,  and  hymns,  and  spiritual  songs — the 
prayers  not  read  from  a  human  form,  but 
prompted  to  the  heart  by  the  Spirit  of  suppli- 
cation ;  the  reading  and  preaching  of  the 
Word,  are  our  ordinary  sanctuary  service.  "  It 
is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth,"  and  where  He 
is  not,  a  form  of  prayer  will  not  quicken  ;  and 
where  he  is,  a  form  of  praver  is  not  needed. 
4* 


42  REMEMBERING   ZI0N. 

When  our  ministers  are  carnal  unconverted 
men,  our  worship  is  sufficiently  formal  ;  when 
they  are  men  "  full  of  faith  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  our  worship  is  lively  and  life-giving. 
The  Lord  Jesus  designed  that  none  but  men 
of  prayer  should  be  his  ministers  ;  and  his 
people  should  choose  none  but  these  for  their 
pastors.  Wherever  we  have  faithful  ministers 
we  have  New  Testament  worship.  Our  direc- 
tory for  worship  contemplates  nothing  less,  and 
admits  of  nothing  more.  We  keep  the  feast 
as  our  Master  appointed.  We  do  not  kneel 
in  receiving  the  sacramental  bread  and  wine, 
for  Christ's  disciples  did  not  kneel ;  and  kneel- 
ing is  not  the  attitude  of  those  who  celebrate  a 
feast.  We  have  no  altar,  for  we  believe  that 
Christ  was  offered  once ;  and  we  do  not  find 
in  Scripture  the  sacrament  of  the  Supper  called 
a  sacrifice,  nor  the  Lord's  table  an  altar.  Our 
worship  may  have  little  pomp.  It  does  not 
attract  the  carnal  eye  nor  the  carnal  ear  ;  but 
it  is  enough  for  us  that  it  satisfies  the  regene- 
rated soul ;  and  those  who  have  worshipped 
in  our  churches  during  seasons  of  refreshing 
from  on  high,  never  felt  that  the  service  was  mea- 
gre, or  that  forms  of  prayer  would  improve  it. 
III.  We  are  thankful  for  the  efficient  govern- 
ment enjoyed  by  the  Church  of  Scotland.  We 
have  ministers — whose  special  office  is  'to 
preach  the  word  and  dispense  the  sacraments. 


REMEMBERING   ZION.  43 

There  are  no  ranks  nor  degrees  among  our 
ministers.  We  have  one  King,  even  the 
Lord  Jesus,  and  all  of  us  are  brethren.  None 
exercise  lordship  over  the  other,  Luke  xxii.  25, 
26.  All  are  alike  bishops,  that  is,  overseers  of 
their  particular  flocks.  All  are  alike  evangelists, 
or  preachers  of  the  gospel.  All  are  alike  pres- 
byters or  elders.  This  is  what  is  meant  by 
presbyterian  parity.  Then  besides  ministers 
or  "  elders  who  labour  in  the  word  and  doc- 
trine," (1  Tim.  v.  17.)  we  have  ruling  elders, 
whose  office  is  to  aid  the  minister  in  the  over- 
sight and  government  of  the  church — visiting 
the  people,  instructing  and  exhorting — giving 
their  counsel  where  it  is  asked  or  needed, — 
and  watching  and  praying  together  for  the 
spiritual  prosperity  of  the  flock.  And  lastly, 
we  have  deacons,  who  like  their  representatives 
in  the  apostolic  age,  make  it  their  special 
business  to  care  for  the  poor,  and  superintend 
those  arrangements  which  promote  the  out- 
ward comfort  of  the  congregation.  Our  gov- 
ernment is  not  arbitrary  :  it  is  the  government 
of  love  and  good-will.  It  is  the  government 
of  brethren  consulting  together  for  the  peace 
and  purity  of  the  congregation  of  which  we 
are  all  alike  members,  and  for  the  honour  of 
our  heavenly  King,  of  whom  we  are  all  alike 
subjects.  And  if  any  thing  occurs  where  we 
wish  advice,  or  where  any  one  feels  himself 


44  REMEMBERING    ZION. 

aggrieved,  there  is  the  Presbytery  or  Synod, 
the  council  of  associated  ministers  and  elders 
to  whom  we  can  go.  (Acts  xv.)  In  this  we 
are  all  like  the  first  reformed  churches,  with  a 
single  exception  ;  and  here  again  we  are  thank 
ful  that  in  our  ecclesiastical  polity  we  should 
so  nearly  agree  with  all  these  Churches  of 
Christ,  the  Churches  of  Holland,  Switzerland, 
and  Germany,  the  Huguenots  of  France,  the 
primitive  Waldenses,  and  our  own  apostolical 
Culdees. 

IV.  The  Lord  has  blessed  the  Church  of 
Scotland  with  a  succession  of  holy  and  faith- 
ful ministers.  Time  would  fail  to  tell  them 
all.  But  there  were  its  protomartyrs,  Patrick 
Hamilton,  more  noble  as  Christ's  faithful 
witness  than  as  King  James's  kinsman  ;  and 
George  Wisiiart,  the  smoke  of  whose  im- 
molation wafted  the  gospel  where  his  voice 
had  failed  to  carry  it.  There  was  its  great 
Reformer  Knox,  with  his  excellent  spirit, 
patriotic,  most  forgetful  of  himself  and  of  his 
enemies,  but  most  loyal  to  his  God,  by  sim- 
plicity of  faith,  outwitting  crafty  men,  and 
with  the  straightforward  zeal  of  an  honest, 
and  therefore  fearless  heart,  achieving  results 
which  are  only  possible  to  him  that  believeth. 
There  were  John  Welch,  who  after  many 
hours  spent  in  prayer,  would  preach  sermons 
to  which  few  could  listen  without  weeping : 


REMEMBERING   ZION.  45 

Robert  Bruce,  before  whose  searching  eye, 
the  most  intricate  and  subtle  natures  felt  them- 
selves revealed ;  and  beneath  whose  voice 
gnarled  cedars  bent  like  willows,  for  the  Spirit 
of  God  spake  by  him  ;  of  whose  prayers  it  is 
said,  "  each  sentence  was  a  bolt  shot  into  hea- 
ven ;  as  of  his  sermons,  each  sentence  was  a 
bolt  shot  from  heaven  into  the  heart :"  Hugh 
Binning,  who  laid  his  fine  philosophy  and 
precocious  scholarship  and  classic  taste  all  at  the 
feet  of  Jesus,  and  was  honoured  to  deliver 
those  discourses,  to  which  grey  haired  theolo- 
gians listened,  and  protested  there  was  "  no 
speaking  after  him ;"  and  which  fastidious 
critics  now  read,  and  wonder  how  writings,  so 
pure  and  elegant,  could  be  produced  in  a  rude 
country  and  in  a  pedantic  age :  Andrew 
Gray,  whom  the  Lord  made  ready  in  such 
haste  for  himself,  that  ere  he  reached  his 
twenty-second  year,  believers  ripe  for  glory, 
saw  that  he  was  riper  still ;  and  whose  enrap- 
tured anticipations  of  the  heavenly  com- 
munion, are  to  this  day  the  solace  of  many 
an  aged  pilgrim  and  dying  saint  in  Scotland  : 
James  Durham,  the  humble  evangelist,  who 
rejoiced  to  decrease  that  his  Master  might  in- 
crease, but  withal  the  Spirit-taught  counsellor, 
to  whom  far-travelled  inquirers  came,  and 
blessed  God  for  a  guide  so  skilful  and  judicious  : 
Samuel  Rutherford,  who  lived  so  much 


46  REMEMBERING    ZION. 

on  high,  that  you  wonder  how  he  had  patience 
to  amass  such  learning,  and  write  so  many 
books — perhaps,  the  completest  instance  of 
absorbing  affection  for  the  person  of  a  living 
Saviour — the  liveliest  example  of  a  life  hid 
with  Christ  in  God,  which  these  latter  ages 
have  produced  ;  William  Guthrie,  whose 
benign  and  gentle  spirit  drew  all  men  after 
him,  till  persecutors  themselves  felt  the  fascina- 
tion, and  Fenwick  glebe  was  built  over  with 
the  houses  of  people,  who  counted  it  happiness 
to  be  near  him  :  so  modest,  that  the  only  little 
book*  he  ever  published  was  printed,  because 
he  could  not  help  it ;  and  yet  of  that  little 
book,  Dr.  Owen  said,  "  There  is  more  divinity 
in  it  than  in  all  my  folios  :"  John  Living- 
stone, a  man  full  of  faith  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  of  whose  ministry  we  have  this  record  ; 
that  in  two  parishes,  1500  souls  were  confirmed 
or  converted  under  it :  Thomas  Boston, 
whose  peaceful  walk  with  God  is  not  yet  for- 
gotten in  Ettrick  Forest ;  and  whose  writings, 
originally  designed  for  his  own  shepherds,  are 
now  prized  in  all  the  churches,  and  most  prized 
by  those  Christians  who  have  farthest  grown 
in  grace  :  and  to  name  no  more,  John  Mac- 
laurin,  whose  Sermon  "  On  glorying  in  the 
Cross,"  is  of  all  printed  Sermons,  the  one 
which  God  has  honoured  the  most,  and  whose 

*  The  Christian's  Great  Interest. 


REMEMBERING    ZION.  47 

appropriate  monument  may  still  be  found  in 
the  city  of  his  sojourn — in  prayer-meetings 
which  he  originated  there  a  hundred  years 
ago. 

V.  But  above  all,  we  are  thankful  for  the 
many  tokens  of  his  love  with  which  the  Lord 
has  blessed  the  Church  of  Scotland.  He  has 
repeatedly  poured  out  His  Spirit  upon  the 
assemblies  of  her  ministers  and  elders,  so  that 
a  zeal  for  personal  and  family  amendment  as 
well  as  for  ecclesiastical  and  national  reform- 
ation, was  kindled.  He  has  sent  to  that 
church  frequent  times  of  refreshing,  so  that 
once  and  again,  the  spectacle  has  been  beheld 
of  whole  parishes  awake  to  eternal  realities, 
and  entire  congregations  exclaimed,  "  What 
shall  we  do  to  be  saved  ?"  In  the  days  when 
the  doctrines  of  our  church  are  most  power- 
fully preached,  and  the  ordinances  of  our 
church  most  faithfully  enforced,  the  effect  was 
such,  that  had  it  but  continued,  one  region  of 
the  world  should  have  enjoyed  something  of 
millennial  holiness  and  blessedness  long  ago. 
Hear  the  testimony  of  one,  who,  with  his  own 
eyes  beheld  it.  "At  the  king's  return  every 
parish  had  a  minister,  every  village  had  a 
school,  every  family  almost  had  a  Bible  ;  yea, 
in  most  of  the  country  all  the  children  of  age 
eould  read  the  Scriptures,  and  were  provided 
with   Bibles,  either  by  their  parents  or  their 


48  REMEMBERING    ZION. 

ministers.  Every  minister  was  a  very  full  pro- 
fessor of  the  reformed  religion,  according  to  the 
larger  Confession  of  Faith  framed  at  West- 
minster, by  the  divines  of  both  nations.  None 
of  them  might  be  scandalous  in  their  conver- 
sation, or  negligent  in  their  office,  so  long  as  a 
presbytery  stood  ;  and  among  them  were  many 
holy  in  conversation  and  eminent  in  gifts  ;  the 
dispensation  of  the  ministry  being  fallen  from 
the  noise  of  waters,  and  the  sound  of  trumpets 
to  the  melody  of  harpers,  which  is,  alas  !  the 
last  mess  in  the  banquet ;  nor  did  a  minister 
satisfy  himself  except  his  ministry  had  the  seal 
of  divine  approbation,  as  might  witness  him 
to  be  really  sent  from  God.  Indeed,  in  many 
places  the  Spirit  seemed  to  be  poured  out  with 
the  word,  both  by  the  multitude  of  sincere  con- 
verts, and  also  by  the  common  work  of  reform- 
ation upon  many  who  never  came  the  length 
of  a  communion.  There  were  no  fewer  than 
sixty  aged  people,  men  and  women,  who  went 
to  school,  that  even  then  they  might  be  able  to 
read  the  -Sonptures  with  their  own  eyes.  I 
have  lived  many  years  in  a  parish  where  I 
never  heard  an  oath,  and  you  might  have  rode 
many  miles  before  you  heard  any.  Also,  you 
could  not  for  a  great  part  of  the  country  have 
lodged  in  a  family  where  the  Lord  was  not 
worshipped  by  reading,  singing,  and  public 
prayer.     No  body   complained  more  of   our 


REMEMBERING   ZION.  49 

church  government  than  our  taverners,  whose 
ordinary  lamentation  was,  '  their  trade  was 
broke,  people  were  become  so  sober.'  "*  And 
though  days  of  outward  trial  have  come  upon 
her,  the  Lord  has  begun  to  bless  our  church 
again.  If  during  these  years  we  have  seen  much 
evil,  we  have  also  seen  much  good.  The  Lord 
has  added  to  this  church  many  such  as  shall  be 
saved.  He  has  made  many  of  her  members  less 
worldly  minded,  and  has  put  unwonted  power 
into  the  ministrations  of  her  faithful  pastors. 
Evil  men  may  be  waxing  worse  and  worse  ;  but 
some  happy  spots  are  now  clothed  in  a  new 
beauty  of  holiness,  and  God's  people  are  keep- 
ing nearer  to  himself,  and  praying  more  ear- 
nestly, "  Thy  kingdom  come."  They  have  sent 
after  Israel,  and  have  doubled  their  Mission- 
aries to  the  Gentiles.  These  years  of  trial 
have  been  years  of  revival.  The  Lord  hath 
done  great  things  for  us,  and  let  us  magnify 
his  name. 


*  Kirkton's  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  4ta  pp. 
64,  65. — "  Oh  the  children  of  my  people !  Who  shall  rf  store 
your  lost  honour  1  Who  shall  revive  the  work  of  God  in  the 
midst  of  you  1  Ye  were  a  people.  Ye  were  a  nation  of 
families,  and  every  head  of  a  family  as  a  king  and  a  priest 
in  his  house,  which  was  a  house  of  God,  and  a  gate  of  hea- 
ven. Your  peasantry  were  as  the  sons  of  kings  in  their 
gravity  and  wisdom.  They  were  men  who  could  hold  com- 
munion with  the  King  of  Heaven." — Rev.  E.  Irving. 

5 


50  REMEMBERING   ZION. 

And  now,  dear  brethren,  having  told  you 
what  the  church  of  your  fathers  is,  and  what 
God  has  done  for  it,  we  should  like  that  you 
yourselves  would  draw  the  inference.  We  will 
not  say  that  you  have  no  reason  to  be  ashamed 
of  your  church — as  little  would  we  say  that 
you  should  be  proud  of  it.  But  if  you  are 
patriotic  Scotchmen,  you  should  be  thankful 
for  the  benefits  which  that  church  has  conferred 
on  your  country  ;  and  if  you  be  true-hearted 
Christians,  you  should  be  thankful  for  the 
grace  which  the  Lord  has  bestowed  upon  that 
church.  And  whichever  you  be,  you  should 
express  your  sense  of  obligation  in  the  most 
obvious  and  effectual  way,  by  countenancing 
that  church,  joining  her  communion,  and  wait- 
ing on  her  ordinances. 

This  Address  may  be  read  by  some  who 
have  not  forsaken  the  house  of  God,  though 
they  have  left  the  church  of  their  fathers.  If 
you  have  left  us,  because,  after  a  prayerful  ex- 
amination of  the  word  of  God,  you  find  that 
Presbyterian  worship  or  government  is  unscrip- 
tural,  or  because,  in  none  of  our  churches  could 
you  hear  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  it  would 
be  wrong  or  needless  to  urge  you  to  return — 
though  even  in  that  case  we  might  invite  you 
to  re-consider.  But  perhaps  local  convenience 
or  considerations  of  expediency,  or  accidental 
and  temporary  causes   originated  your  with- 


REMEMBERING   ZION.  51 

drawment.  If  so,  it  is  so  far  well ;  for  there 
is  no  conscientious  scruple  to  bar  your  return, 
and  perhaps,  were  you  weighing  the  matter 
seriously,  there  might  be  reasons  sufficient  to 
bring  you  back.  We  wish  no  injury  to  any 
Christian  body  whose  fellowship  you  may 
have  joined.  But  we  feel  that  we  do  them  no 
wrong,  when  we  address  ourselves  to  you. 
For  has  not  the  Church  of  Scotland  a  first 
claim  on  you  1  Was  it  not  your  early  bene- 
factor ?  Has  it  not  at  least  been  the  benefac- 
tor of  thousands  of  your  countrymen  at  home, 
and  amongst  the  rest,  of  kindred  of  your  own? 
And  if  justice  were  done  to  it,  might  it  not  be 
the  benefactor  of  thousands  of  your  country- 
men here  ?  But  if  you  forsake  its  communion 
and  its  sanctuaries,  do  you  not  inflict  on  it  a 
practical  injury  ;  and  so  far  lessen  its  power  to 
benefit  your  brethren  ?  Is  it  not  virtually, 
though  unintentionally,  saying,  that  you  know 
of  nothing  in  the  past  history  or  existing  con- 
stitution of  that  church  which  should  induce 
you  to  acknowledge  it  in  your  present  place  of 
sojourn  ?  Were  you  not  safe  in  the  Church 
of  Scotland  ?  Were  you  and  your  children 
not  secure  of  remaining  doctrinally  sound 
within  its  pale  ?  Have  you  found  a  church 
with  purer  standards,  or  more  reformed,  or  a 
ministry  more  evangelical  ?  Have  you  found 
a  church  where  greater  provision  is  made  for 


52  REMEMBERING   ZION. 

the  kind  and  Christian  intercourse  of  pastor  and 
people,  or  one  which  in  its  office-bearers  secures 
to  its  members  more  affectionate  council  in  per- 
plexity, or  more  sympathy  in  seasons  of  afflic- 
tion and  sorrow  ?  If  you  used  to  speak  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland  as  "  the  fairest  of  all  the 
daughters  of  the  reformation,"  was  there  no 
risk  in  deserting  such  a  church  in  days  so 
perilous  ?  And  would  it  not  be  worth  while 
adhering  to  such  a  church,  for  the  sake  of  our 
common  Christianity,  even  at  some  personal 
inconvenience,  and  with  some  occasional  self- 
denial  ? 

This  Address  may  fall  into  the  hands  of 
Scotchmen  wTho  have  ceased  to  frequent  the 
assemblies  of  God's  people  altogether.  Was  it 
not  once  better  with  you  than  now  ?  In  for- 
saking God,  do  you  not  find  that  he  has  for- 
saken you  ?  In  forsaking  his  people,  have 
you  not  forsaken  your  own  mercies  ?  In  in- 
viting you  to  join  our  company,  we  feel  none 
of  that  delicacy  which  we  can  scarcely  help 
feeling  in  addressing  countrymen  of  other 
communions.  We  feel  all  the  satisfaction  of 
issuing  an  invitation,  with  which  if  you  com- 
ply, you  will  be  the  first  to  thank  us,  and  for 
issuing  which  nobody  of  our  fellow-christians 
can  blame  us.  We  feel  a  special  anxiety  on 
your  account ;  for  your  fellow-countrymen  in 
other   communions  may  be  following  Christ, 


REMEMBERING    ZION.  53 

though  they  follow  not  with  us.  But  whilst 
you  habitually  forsake  the  place  which  He 
chiefly  loves,  it  is  too  evident  that  you  are  still 
strangers  to  himself.  And  as  the  short  time 
allotted  you  for  becoming  acquainted  with 
him  is  dwindling  rapidly  away,  each  new  Sab- 
bath that  you  spend  in  idleness  or  dissipation, 
is  full  of  jeopardy,  for  it  may  be  your  last ;  just 
as  the  first  sermon  you  hear  is  full  of  moment, 
for  in  it  you  may  find  your  salvation.  If  yours 
be  the  dreary  home  which  knows  no  Sabbath, 
and  consequently  a  home  from  which  joy  has 
withered  away ;  the  day  that  restores  you  and 
yours  to  the  house  of  God  in  company,  may 
be  the  most  eventful  in  your  history.  From 
that  time  forward  God  may  begin  to  bless  you. 
The  benign  influence  of  a  hallowed  rest  will 
diffuse  itself  along  the  week,  will  sweeten  the 
atmosphere  of  your  home,  and  tell  its  tale  of 
blessing  in  domestic  harmony  and  growing  in- 
door comfort.  It  will  send  you  with  elastic 
step,  and  a  clear  calm  head,  with  a  peaceful 
conscience  and  unruffled  temper,  to  your  Mon- 
day morning's  employ.  I?  will  keep  a  sharp 
thorn  out  of  your  dying  pillow  ;  and  if  it  lead 
you  to  the  tomb  of  a  risen  Saviour,  will  more 
than  reconcile  you  to  your  own. 

This  Address  may  fall  into  the  hands  of  one 
who   once  wore   a  blue  bonnet  himself,  and 
travelled  a  Sabbath-day's  journey  of  two  or 
5* 


54  REMEMBERING    ZION. 

three  miles  to  the  house  of  God,  and  did  not 
deem  the  journey  long.  It  may  fall  into  the 
hands  of  one,  whose  parents  passed  into  the 
skies  from  a  country  manse,  or  farm-steading, 
or  cottage  by  a  burn  side  in  Scotland ;  and 
who  now  sleep  beneath  the  shadow  of  that 
"  pleasant  tabernacle,"  which  never  missed 
their  living  presence.  It  may  be  read  by  one, 
from  whose  orphan  eyes  the  first  tears  were 
dried  by  the  man  of  God,  who  prayed  the  last 
prayer  in  which  his  dying  father  joined.  It 
may  be  read  by  one,  who  in  days  now  distant 
was  spectator  of  a  communion  Sabbath  in  his 
native  land  :  and  who,  as  he  listened  to  the 
exhortations  of  a  pastor,  whose  soul  rode  aloft 
on  fiery  wheels  like  the  chariot  of  Amminadib, 
who  as  he  saw  the  solemn  company  around 
the  table  pass  along  the  tokens  of  a  dying 
Saviour's  love,  or  arise  to  "  go  in  peace,"  when 
the  service  ended, — felt  for  the  first  time, 
"Happy  art  thou,  O  Israel,  who  is  like  unto 
thee,  O  people  saved  by  the  Lord  ?" — and  who 
may  never  have  felt  the  same  feeling  since. 
Tli is  Address  may  be  read  by  some  who  have 
never  been  so  happy  since,  and  who  have 
never  prospered  since  they  forgot  the  Sabbaths 
and  the  sanctuaries  of  their  father-land.  It 
may  be  read  by  others,  who  have  prospered 
greatly  in  the  world,  and  who,  under  God, 
owe  that  prosperity  to  the  better  education 


REMEMBERING    ZION.  55 

which  they  received  in  the  parish  schools  of 
Scotland,  to  the  lessons  of  industry,  and  fru- 
gality, and  self-denial,  which  they  learned 
from  its  wise  and  godly  parentage  ;  and,  per- 
haps, to  the  fear  of  God  and  hatred  of  evil, 
which  they  were  taught  in  its  churches  and 
Sabbath  schools  ;  and  possibly,  because  there 
they  were  led  to  choose  first  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  and  its  righteousness,  and*?  have 
found  the  other  things  since  added.  Be  the 
reader  who  he  may,  if  he  was  born  beyond 
the  Tweed,  or  baptized  in  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land, and  has  any  reason  for  saying,  "  Peace 
be  within  thee,"  he  is  himself  invited  to  come 
in.  Amongst  us  you  will  at  least  find  the 
primitive  worship  of  your  ancestral  church. 
You  will  sing  the  Scottish  psalms  to  the  tunes 
which  the  Scottish  martyrs  sang.  You  will 
hear  the  reformation  doctrines  as  Knox  and 
Melville  taught  them,  and  as  you  yourselves 
may  have  read  them  in  Boston,  in  Willison, 
and  the  Erskines.  And  if  you  come  in  the 
spirit  of  prayer,  you  may  find  our  church 
a  Bethel ;  you  may  be  enabled  to  pour  out 
your  hearts  before  God,  and  whilst  you  are  • 
yet  speaking,  He  may  answer  ;  and  matters 
which,  at  present,  are  too  hard  for  you,  may 
be  made  plain  when  you  go  into  the  sanctu- 
ary ;  and  as  there  are  amongst  us  some  of  the 
Saviour's  disciples,  who  desire  above  all  things 


56  REMEMBERING    ZION. 

His  presence  in  these  ordinances,  and  as  He  is 
wont  to  go  where  these  are  gathered,  who  can 
tell  but  that  in  His  visits  to  them,  He  may- 
reveal  himself  to  you,  and  then  your  hearts 
will  rejoice  with  a  joy  which  no  man  taketh 
from  you. 

In  common  with  the  other  members  of  the 
London  Presbytery,  having  much  at  heart  the 
welfare  of  our  brethren  scattered  through  this 
labyrinthine  city  ;  we  have  resolved  to  send 
forth  this  circular  to  our  countrymen  in  the 
neighbourhood,  apprising  them  of  the  existence 
of  a  Presbyterian  Church  in  Regent  Square, 
and  inviting  them  to  share  in  its  Sabbath  and 
week-day  services.  We  hope  soon  to  announce 
the  existence  of  a  daily  school,  conducted  on 
the  Scottish  sessional  system.  And  in  that 
event  you  will  be  enabled  to  secure  for  your 
children  here,  the  same  intellectual,  moral,  and 
religious  training,  which  at  the  distance  of 
many  years,  and  some  hundred  miles,  you  en- 
joyed yourselves.  Is  it  too  much  to  hope — it  is 
surely  not  too  much  to  desire — that  our  na- 
tional church  may,  like  Israel's  ark,  be  a 
blessing  wheresoever  it  goes  7  Is  there  nothing 
in  presbyterianism,  rightly  exemplified,  from 
which  other  churches  might  learn  a  lesson, 
useful  to  themselves  and  to  the  cause  of 
Christ  ?  Is  there  nothing  in  our  educational 
processes,   the    Bible  lessons    and    catechetic 


REMEMBERING   ZION.  57 

training",  from  which,  were  a  living  specimen 
before  their  eyes,  the  intelligent  patrons  and 
conductors  of  metropolitan  schools  might 
gather  hints,  which,  in  time,  would  improve 
their  own  ?  Were  it  not  a  blessed  thing  to  see 
London  keeping  Sabbath,  as  Edinburgh,  and 
Glasgow,  and  Dundee  kept  it  fifty  years  ago  ? 
Broken,  scattered,  and  disunited,  we  have 
hitherto  accomplished  little  good.  Knit  to- 
gether, heart  and  soul,  we  might  accomplish 
much.  In  the  congregation  where  God  in  his 
providence  has  planted  us,  He  has  awakened 
much  desire  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  our 
Scottish  countrymen  ;  and  as  He  has  given 
us  one  heart  and  one  mind  regarding  this 
matter,  so  we  believe  he  designs  to  answer  the 
prayer  in  this  behalf,  "  Come  with  us,  and  we 
will  do  you  good."  Or  rather,  we  should  say, 
"  Come  with  us,  and  we  will  do  one  another 
good,"  for  so  bountiful  is  the  God  of  grace,  that 
when  many  go  to  seek  one  blessing,  the  more 
applicants  there  are,  the  larger  is  the  share  of 
each. 


National  Scotch  Church,  Regent  Square, 
February  10th,  1842. 


FAREWELL  TO  EGYPT. 


It  has  been  remarked  with  truth,  that  a  re- 
cent ruin  is  never  romantic.  The  fresh  marks 
of  the  pick-axe  and  crow-bar  speak  of  violence 
in  a  language  too  distinct  to  be  pleasing ;  and 
it  is  not  till  time  has  passed  his  softening  hand 
over  the  rough  work  of  the  spoiler,  that  you 
can  look  at  it  with  an  interest  which  includes 
no  pain.  Fresh-fallen  plaster  and  shattered 
doors  and  timbers  still  smoking  are  not  poeti- 
cal; and  it  is  not  till  the  grey  lichen  has 
weathered  over  the  chipped  and  fractured  stones, 
and  the  wallflower  is  clinging  high  on  the  tower, 
and  the  cold  arum  and  adder's  tongue  are  grow- 
ing in  the  sunless  recesses,  that  the  ruined  con- 
vent or  castle  grows  picturesque — so  picturesque 
in  the  disguise  of  mysterious  time,  that  you 
tread  with  pensive  step  and  swelling  heart  on 
ruins  which  when  recent  would  only  have  been 
counted  rubbish.     We  fear,  that  the  tale  we 


FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT.  69 

are  about  to  tell  labours  under  this  disadvan- 
tage. It  is  recent ;  for  the  catastrophe  occurred 
last  month.  And  it  is  too  true;  for  in  little 
more  than  a  day's  journey  the  reader  may  see 
for  himself  all  its  sad  details  of  desolate  sanctu- 
aries and  forsaken  homes  and  weeping  families. 
But  it  is  co-temporary  history.  It  is  a  tale  of 
the  times,  and  the  russet  light  of  antiquity  is 
not  fading  over  it.  And,  therefore,  some  who 
garnish  the  sepulchres  of  the  Covenanters  and 
build  the  tombs  of  the  Puritans  may  grudge  a 
stone  to  this  modern  cairn.  But  when  we  re- 
flect a  little  longer  and  remember  that  it  is  not 
so  much  a  tale  of  ruin  as  of  restoration — when 
we  consider  that  this  disruption  of  the  northern 
Establishment  is  the  resuscitation  of  the  Na- 
tional Church,  the  revival  of  the  Kirk  in  the 
energy  of  its  first  reformation,  in  the  purity  of 
its  second  reformation,  and  in  the  catholicity 
of  this,  its  third,  reformation,  we  almost  forget 
the  privations  with  which  it  has  been  pur- 
chased, and  rejoice  that  it  is  such  a  modern 
story.  There  are  readers  who  value  truth  so 
much  as  to  hail  a  living  testimony ;  and  who 
can  understand  how  the  same  faith  which  car- 
ried Abraham  out  of  Ur,  and  Moses  out  of 
Egypt,  may  still  enable  men,  at  the  call  of 
God,  to  "go  out"  from  endeared  associations 
and  friendships,  even  when  they  know  not 
whither,  and  "refuse"  distinctions  and  enjoy- 


60  FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT. 

ments  which  sense  most  values.  To  such 
readers  we  inscribe  these  lines. 

It  was  in  last  November,  that  the  capital  of 
Scotland  witnessed  such  a  gathering  of  its 
clergy  as  had  not  met  since  the  time  two  hun- 
dred years  ago  when  the  National  Covenant 
was  framed.  Every  one  felt  that  it  was  a  so- 
lemn emergency  which  brought  together,  in 
the  dead  season  of  the  year  from  distant  glens 
and  storm-girdled  islands,  such  a  company  of 
Scotland's  most  devoted  ministers.  It  was  a 
solemn  emergency.  They  met  to  consider 
whether  they  could  conscientiously  remain  the 
ministers  of  the  Scotch  Establishment  any 
longer ;  and  all  felt,  that  in  the  decision  to 
which  they  came,  not  so  much  the  comfort  of 
many  hundred  households  as  the  welfare  of  the 
national  Christianity  was  involved.  It  may  be 
right  to  mention  in  a  few  short  sentences  what 
had  brought  it  to  this  conjuncture. 

The  Church  of  Scotland  was  founded  on  the 
principle,  that  not  only  is  the  Bible  the  only 
rule  of  faith,  but  the  only  statute-book  by  which 
the  Lord  Jesus  would  have  his  Church  on  earth 
be  governed.  It  assumed  that  Christ  himself 
has  given  certain  office-bearers  for  the  admin  - 
istration  of  his  Church,  and  that  he  has  given 
to  these  office-bearers  their  Directory,  their  only 
Book  of  Canons  in  the  written  Word.  And  it 
farther  assumed,  that  in  the  administration  of 


FAREWELL    TO   EGYPT.  61 

the  Church,  civil  rulers  and  secular  magistrates 
ought  not  to  interfere  with  the  servants  of 
Christ,  but  should  leave  it  to  them  to  rule 
Christ's  house — his  Church  on  earth,  accord- 
ing to  Christ's  own  laws.  And  it  still  farther 
assumed  that  in  the  event  of  the  Church  enter- 
ing into  any  connexion  with  the  State — ac- 
cepting an  endowment  for  instance — the 
Church  was  not  at  liberty  to  surrender  any 
spiritual  privileges  as  the  price  of  protection,  or 
pecuniary  support.  This  was  the  theory. 
And  at  the  Revolution,  this  theory  became  the 
statute-law  of  Scotland ;  and  at  the  Union,  it 
was  stipulated  that  this  should  abide  the  stat- 
ute-law of  Scotland  for  ever. 

Well,  nine  years  ago,  the  General  Assembly, 
whose  counsels,  in  consequence  of  the  wide 
revival  of  Evangelical  religion,  had  become 
more  Scriptural,  restored  to  the  communicants 
in  the  different  parishes  of  Scotland  a  privilege 
which  they  enjoyed  up  to  the  Union,  and  for 
some  time  afterward,  the  right  of  being  con- 
sulted in  the  appointment  of  their  ministers. 
In  the  event  of  a  majority  declaring  that  the 
individual  offered  to  their  acceptance  was  one 
by  whose  ministrations  they  could  not  profit, 
the  Assembly  ordained  that  the  vetoed  candi- 
date should  not  be  inducted,  but  that  the  pa- 
tron of  the  parish  should  be  requested  to  give 


62  FAREWELL    TO   EGYPT. 

the  people  the  offer  of  another  minister.*  In 
the  progress  of  certain  civil  suits  which  arose 
out  of  this  ecclesiastical  law,  it  was  not  only- 
declared  by  the  secular  courts,  that  the  Gene- 
ral Assembly  did  not  possess  the  statutory  power 
to  confer  this  privilege  on  the  people  of  her 
communion,  but  the  civil  courts  went  on  to 
claim  powers  over  the  Church  courts,  at  which 
many  stood  aghast.  For  instance,  the  Court 
of  Session  drew  a  line  round  certain  districts 
of  country,  and  said  to  the  ministers  of  the  Es- 
tablishment, "  We  prohibit  you  from  preaching 
here  under  pain  of  imprisonment."  It  took  its 
stand  at  the  door  of  the  Church  Courts  and 
prohibited  certain  members  from  taking  their 
places  in  Presbyteries  and  Synods.  It  imposed 
a  crushing  fine  on  a  Presbytery  for  refusing  to 
ordain  a  man  to  the  ministry  of  a  parish  where, 
out  of  3,000  inhabitants,  all,  save  two,  depre- 
cated his  admission.  And,  not  content  with 
inflicting  pains  and  penalties  on  Presbyteries, 
it  had  at  last  descended  to  the  discipline  of  se- 
parate congregations,  and  tampered  with  the 
sacredness  of  the  communion-table.  The 
Church  began  to  see  too  plainly  that  not  a  ves- 
tige of  separate  jurisdiction  was  left  to  her,  and 

*  The  Crown-lawyers  of  the  day  assured  the  General  As- 
sembly that  the  passing  of  such  a  law  was  within  their  com- 
petency. In  this  opinion  five  of  the  thirteen  Scottish  judges 
afterwards  concurred. 


FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT.  63 

that  in  endeavouring  to  restore  the  liberties  of 
ner  people  she  had  lost  her  own. 

It  was  in  consequence  of  the  intolerable  pres- 
sure of  these  encroachments,  and  the  sanction 
given  to  them  in  the  Court  of  highest  appeal, 
that  the  Convocation  of  Ministers  assembled 
last  November.  They  met  in  a  place  of  wor- 
ship from  which  the  public  was  excluded,  that 
no  one  might  be  restrained  from  speaking  freely 
among  his  brethren  by  the  restraint  of  a  stran- 
ger-audience, and  that  no  measure  might  be 
precipitated  by  the  urgency  of  popular  impulse. 
Every  step  was  taken  with  caution,  deliberation, 
and  much  prayer ;  and  it  was  very  affecting  in 
the  solemnity  of  devotion,  and  in  the  freedom 
of  these  brotherly  communings,  to  find  the 
same  truths  which  had  evaporated  into  thin 
abstractions  in  the  language  of  controversy,  re- 
turning in  living  realities  ;  and  to  see  that  it 
was  neither  Church-power  nor  popular  rights 
so  much  as  the  prerogatives  of  a  much-loved 
Saviour,  for  which  they  had  been  contending. 
Successive  days  of  consultation  ended  in  a  last 
appeal  to  the  legislature  of  the  country.  It  was 
represented  that  the  recent  encroachments  of 
the  civil  courts  within  the  spiritual  province 
were  inconsistent  with  the  liberty  wherewith 
Christ  had  made  his  people  and  their  pastors 
free.  It  was  alleged  that  by  subverting  eccle- 
siastical discipline  they  would  eventually  de- 


64  FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT. 

stroy  the  Established  Church.  It  was  urged 
that  international  faith  demanded  a  remedy ; 
for  all  these  infringements  on  the  Church's 
liberty  were  contrary  to  the  stipulations  of  the 
Union  Treaty.  And,  in  conclusion,  it  was  in- 
timated, that  should  this  final  appeal  be  met  by 
a  refusal — rather  than  consent  to  disregard  the 
voice  of  a  Christian  congregation  imploring 
protection  for  themselves  and  their  children 
against  the  intrusion  of  an  obnoxious  presentee 
— rather  than  purchase  the  benefits  of  an  en- 
dowment by  the  omission  of  any  Christian  duty, 
the  surrender  of  any  spiritual  privilege,  they 
would  sacrifice  their  earthly  all,  and  seek  for 
themselves  and  their  people  on  the  broad  ground 
of  British  toleration  that  liberty  which  they 
could  not  find  within  the  pale  of  the  Established 
Church. 

This  document,  with  the  signatures  of  more 
than  400  ministers,  was  laid  before  Parliament 
last  spring.  Everything  that  patriotism  and 
principle  could  do  was  done  to  obtain  a  candid 
consideration  for  the  Church's  claim  of  right. 
But  though  the  constitutional  grounds  on  which 
that  claim  was  founded  were  never  touched,  in 
the  emphatic  language  of  a  Minister  of  State, 
it  was  thought  necessary  to  put  an  "extin- 
guisher" for  ever  on  such  pretensions  ;  and  con- 
sequently, although  the  Constitution  of  the 
kingdom  demanded  it,  and  the   majority  of 


FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT.  65 

Scotch  Members  supported  it,  that  claim  was 
by  a  vote  of  Parliament  rejected. 

As  soon  as  the  final  decision  of  the  Legisla- 
ture was  known,  it  was  the  hope  of  many  that 
the  General  Assembly  at  its  first  Meeting  would 
tender  a  formal  resignation  of  its  rights  and 
privileges  as  an  Established  Church  into  the 
hands  of  Government.  To  prevent  this  no 
pains  were  spared.  Under  various  pretexts 
presbyteries  were  interdicted  from  meeting  to 
elect  Commissioners,  or  their  representatives 
when  chosen  were  discharged  under  civil  pains 
and  penalties  from  claiming  their  seat  in  the 
Supreme  Judicatory.  Whilst,  intimidated  by 
the  prospect  of  worldly  loss,  a  few  who  had  once 
espoused  the  non-Erastian  cause  turned  back 
in  the  day  of  battle.  It,  therefore,  became  re- 
quisite to  adopt  another  course,  and  sever  all 
connexion  with  a  Church  which,  in  such  cir- 
cumstances, would  not  sever  its  connexion  with 
the  State. 

Edinburgh  is  one  of  those  cities  which  seem 
designed  as  the  arena  of  mighty  incidents. 
Commanding  that  wide  prospect  of  fertile  fields, 
and  of  the  far-stretching  ocean,  which  is  itself 
enlarging  to  the  soul ;  overhung  by  tall  piles 
of  ancient  masonry,  and  hoary  battlements, 
which  only  speak  of  other  years ;  looking  up 
to  everlasting  mountains  which  carry  the 
thoughts  aloft  or  far  on  into  the  future ;  and 


66  FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT. 

with  the  solemn  shadows  of  the  ancient  capital 
diffusing  a  sedateness  over  the  elegance  of  the 
modern  town,  Edinburgh  is  essentially  an  his- 
toric city — a  city  familiar  with  great  events, 
and  a  proper  place  for  their  transaction.  On 
the  morning  of  the  18th  May  it  had  the  look 
as  if  such  an  event  were  coming.  People  were 
early  astir.  When  the  hours  of  business  came, 
men  either  forbore  their  wonted  occupations,  or 
plied  them  in  a  way  which  showed  they  had 
as  lief  forbear.  Holyrood  was  one  point  of 
attraction,  for  the  yearly  gleam  of  royalty  was 
nickering  about  its  old  grim  turrets  and  through 
its  gaunt  open  gateway.  The  scarlet  yeomen 
with  their  glancing  halberts,  and  the  horsemen 
curvetting  in  the  court  of  the  resounding  "  Sanc- 
tuary," announced  that  the  representative  of 
majesty  was  within  :  and  a  stream  of  very  va- 
rious equipages  was  conveying  down  the  Ca- 
nongate  professors  from  the  college,  and  red- 
gowned  magistrates  from  the  council-chamber, 
lawyers  from  the  Parliament-house,  and  lairds 
from  all  the  Lothians,  besides  a  long  pedestrian 
procession  of  doctors,  and  ministers,  and  burgh- 
elders,  all  resorting  to  the  palace  to  pay  their 
homage  to  His  Grace  the  Queen's  Commis- 
sioner. From  Holyrood  they  marched  to  the 
High  Church.  This  venerable  fabric  seemed 
also  to  renew  the  days  of  old.  Beneath  that 
canopy  where  James,  of  pedantic  memory,  used 


FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT.  67 

to  sit,  and  sometimes  dispute  with  John  Durie 
and  Patrick  Simpson,  sate  the  representative 
of  royalty,  and,  all  around,  the  gallery  was 
garnished  with  the  parti-coloured  pomp  of  civic 
functionaries,  whilst  the  area  was  filled  with  that 
grave  and  learned  auditory  which  no  other  oc- 
casion could  supply.  The  discourse,*  "  Let 
every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind," 
was  a  production  which,  for  wise  and  weighty 
casuistry,  for  keen  analysis  of  motive,  and  fine 
discrimination  of  truth,  and  for  felicity  of  his- 
toric illustration,  would  have  been  a  treat  to 
such  a  congregation  at  a  less  eventful  season. 
With  the  solemn  consciousness  that  in  the 
"  full  persuasion"  of  their  own  minds  they  had 
decided  in  another  hour  to  take  a  step  in  which 
character  and  worldly  comfort  and  ministerial 
usefulness  were  all  involved,  each  sentence 
came  with  a  sanction  which  such  sermo  is 
seldom  carry.  When  the  service  was  closing, 
the  audience  began  to  disperse  with  a  precipi- 
tation which  contrasted  strangely  with  the 
fixed  earnestness  of  their  previous  attention  ; 
for  the  place  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  as- 
sembly lay  at  some  distance,  and  the  members 
were  anxious  to  secure  their  seats,  and  on-look- 
ers  were  anxious  to  get  near  the  spot. 

In  the  Assembly-hall  many  of  the  gallery- 

*  Preached  by  the  late  Moderator,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Welsh.    I 
has  since  been  published. 


68  FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT. 

spectators  had  sate  nine  weary  hours,  when  at 
last  the  rapid  entrance  of  members  by  either 
door  announced  that  the  service  in  St.  Giles's 
was  over,  and  languid  countenances  were  again 
lighted  up  with  expectation.  It  did  not  look 
like  the  opening  of  a  General  Assembly.  There 
was  not  the  usual  vivacity  of  recognition,  and 
that  bustling  to  and  fro  and  ferment  of  joyous 
voices  which,  on  such  occasions,  keep  the  floor 
all  astir  and  the  audience  all  alive.  Eithei 
side  was  serious.  The  one  party  had  that  awe 
upon  their  spirits  which  men  feel  when  doing 
a  great  work.  Of  the  other  party,  some  had 
that  cloud  upon  their  consciences  which  men 
feel  when  they  are  doing  a  wrong  work — when 
they  see  others  doing  what  but  for  want  of 
faith  themselves  should  have  been  doing  ;  and 
others  more  honest,  consistent  Erastians  of  the 
old  school, — had  something  of  a  funereal  feel- 
ing, sadness  in  parting  with  opponents  whom 
they  respected,  and  a  foreboding  impression 
that  when  these  were  gone  away,  it  would 
scarcely  be  worth  while  remaining. 

At  last  the  jingle  of  horse-gear,  and  the  mea- 
sured prance  on  the  pavement,  with  the  full 
near  swell  of  the  trumpet,  seemed  to  say  in 
the  words  of  the  national  melody,  "  Now's  the 
day,  and  now's  the  hour."  The  martial  music 
ceased,  and  the  Assembly  rose,  for  Her  Majesty's 
Commissioner  had  entered.     The  Moderator 


FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT.  69 

engaged  in  prayer,  and  as  soon  as  that  prayer 
was  ended,  and  the  members  had  resumed  their 
seats,  amidst  the  breathless  silence  which  pre- 
vailed he  went  on  to  say,  "  According  to  the 
usual  form  of  procedure,  this  is  the  time  for 
making  up  the  roll ;  but  in  consequence  of 
certain  proceedings  affecting  our  rights  and 
privileges, — proceedings  which  have  been  sanc- 
tioned by  Her  Majesty's  Government  and  by 
the  Legislature  of  the  country,  and  more  espe- 
cially in  respect  that  there  has  been  an  in- 
fringement on  the  liberties  of  our  Constitution, 
so  that  we  could  not  now  constitute  this  Court 
without  a  violation  of  the  terms  of  the  union 
between  Church  and  State  in  this  land,  as  now 
authoritatively  declared,  I  must  protest  against 
our  proceeding  further.  The  reasons  that  have 
led  me  to  this  conclusion,  are  fully  set  forth  in 
the  document  which  I  hold  in  my  hand,  and 
which,  with  permission  of  the  House,  I  shall 
now  proceed  to  read."  He  then  read  the  pro- 
test, and  having  laid  it  on  the  table,  bowed 
towards  the  throne,  and  withdrew.  Man  by 
man,  and  row  by  row,  all  to  the  left  of  the 
chair,  arose  and  followed.  An  irrepressible 
shout  of  gratulation  from  the  multitude  in  the 
street  announced  that  the  vanguard  was  fairly 
"  without  the  camp  ;"  and  orderly  and  slowly 
retiring,  in  a  few  short  minutes  all  were  gone. 
Looking  at  the  long  ranges  of  vacant  forms 


70  FAREWELL    TO   EGYPT. 

from  which  the  pride  of  Scottish  genius,  and 
the  flower  of  Scottish  piety  had  disappeared, 
there  were  few  spectators  who  did  not  feel  "  The 
glory  is  departed." 

It  was  a  striking  sight  to  see  the  dark  line 
for  half  a  mile  together,  moving  down  the  steep 
declivity  which  leads  to  the  valley  of  Leith- 
Water.  In  the  distance  stood,  bright  in  its 
polished  freshness,  the  new  Assembly  Hall,  on 
which  they  had  turned  their  backs  for  ever. 
On  either  side  was  the  crowd  of  lookers-on — 
thronging  windows  and  balconies,  and  outside 
stairs ;  some  cheering,  and  others  lifting  their 
hats  in  silent  reverence,  some  weeping,  many 
wondering,  and  a  few  endeavouring  to  smile. 
And  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  held  on  the 
long  procession,  which  included  Welsh  and 
Chalmers,  Gordon,  and  Buchanan,  Keith,  and 
Macfarlan,  Alexander  Stewart,  and  John  Mac- 
donald,  Cunningham,  and  Candlish,  everything 
of  which  a  Scotchman  thinks  when  he  thinks 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 

Humble  in  its  original  destination,  and  pre- 
pared in  haste,  but  of  vast  dimensions,  and 
crowded  with  an  eager  auditory,  their  new 
place  of  meeting  was  emblematic  of  that  new 
dispensation  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland  which  had  now  begun.  The  em- 
blems of  Royal  patronage  were  absent.  There 
was  neither  canopy  nor  throne.  No  civic  pomp 


FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT.  71 

was  seen.  Magistrates  had  laid  aside  their 
robes  of  office,  and  none  of  Scotland's  nobles 
had  come.  But  the  heart  of  Scotland  was 
there,  and  it  was  soon  borne  in  on  every  mind 
that  a  greater  than  Solomon  was  there.  None 
who  heard  them  can  ever  forget  the  fullness 
and  world-forgetting  rapture,  the  inspiration  of 
the  opening  prayers ;  and  when  that  mighty 
multitude  stood  up  to  sing,*  it  seemed  as  if  the 
swell  of  vehement  melody  would  lift  the  roof 
from  off  the  walls.  And  when  at  last  the  ad- 
journment for  the  day  took  place,  and  in  the 
brightness  of  a  lovely  evening  the  different 
groups  went  home,  all  felt  as  if  returning  from 
a  pentecostal  meeting.  A  common  salutation 
was,  "  We  have  seen  strange  things  to-day." 
Some,  contrasting  the  harmony  and  happiness 
of  the  Free- Assembly  with  the  strife  and  debate 
of  other  days,  could  not  help  exclaiming,  "  Be- 
hold, how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren 
to  dwell  together  in  unity !"  Many  remem- 
bered the  text  of  Dr.  Chalmers7  sermon  six 
months  before  in  opening  the  Convocation, 
"  Unto  the  upright  light  shall  arise  in  the  dark- 
ness." And  at  the  family  worship  of  those 
memorable  evenings  such  psalms  as  the  124th 
and  126th  were  often  sung,  and  were  felt  to  be 
u  new  songs." 

*  Psalm  xliii.  3— 5.— O  send  thy  light  forth  and  tty 
truth,  &c. 


72  FAREWELL    TO   EGYPT. 

It  would  be  pleasant  to  dwell  upon  many  of 
the  features  of  the  Free- Church  Assemblies ; 
especially  on  those  deputations  and  messages 
of  sympathy  and  congratulation  which  they 
received  from  so  many  Churches,  and  on  those 
tributes  of  approbation  and  encouragement 
which  coming  in  from  so  many  quarters  made 
them  recognise  the  good  hand  of  the  Lord 
upon  them.  But  we  have  only  room  to  state, 
that  Tuesday,  the  23d  of  May,  was,  after  spe- 
cial devotional  exercises,  employed  in  subscrib- 
ing the  "  Act  of  Separation  and  Deed  of 
Demission,  by  which  470  Ministers  did  "  Sep- 
arate   FROM    AND   ABANDON   THE    PRESENT 

subsisting  Ecclesiastical  Establish- 
ment in  Scotland,  and  renounce  all 
rights  or  emoluments  pertaining  to 
them  by  virtue  thereof." 

Though  subscribed  with  the  utmost  calm- 
ness and  alacrity,  it  would  not  be  easy  to  esti- 
mate the  sacrifice  which  that  Deed  of  Demission 
implied.  It  is  something  to  renounce  the  dig- 
nity of  an  established  Church,  and  the  com- 
forts of  an  endowed  one.  These  Ministers  did 
both,  and  some  will  best  understand  the  sacri- 
fice when  told,  that  the  gift  thus  laid  on  the 
altar  is  a  revenue  of  more  than  a  Hundred 
Thousand  Pounds  a-year.  But  this  is  a 
^s»*y  gross  and  vulgar  way  of  stating  it.  For 
wno  will  estimate  in  pounds  and  pence  the 


FAREWELL    TO   EGYPT.  73 

home-ties  which  have  since  been  broken? 
Who  will  put  a  price  upon  those  hallowed  re- 
collections which  cluster  round  every  manse 
and  church — all  the  more  tender  and  manifold 
in  proportion  as  a  man  of  God  was  the  presi- 
ding spirit  there — round  the  manse  where  infan- 
cy was  cradled  and  childhood  made  merry,  and 
opening  youth  first  learned  to  tread  with  thought- 
ful and  meditative  step — the  country  manse 
on  whose  roof-tree  rested  the  blessing  of  many 
a  passer-by,  and  from  whose  quiet  chambers 
ascended,  heard  by  God  alone,  the  prayer  of 
the  pious  wayfarer  turned  aside  to  tarry  for  a 
night,  and  through  whose  study-windows 
streamed  at  winter's  early  morn  the  radiance 
of  his  lamp  who,  like  his  Master,  had  risen  up 
a  great  while  before  the  dawn,  to  meditate  and 
pray  ?  What  money  will  buy  back  the  joy  of 
those  sanctuaries,  whose  Sabbath-memories  are 
now  strangely  mingled  with  the  thought  of 
their  new  occupants — the  sanctuary,  where, 
one  by  one,  the  Elkanahs  and  Hannahs  of  the 
village  presented  each  loan  from  the  Lord  and 
dedicated  the  infant  Samuel  to  him  who  an- 
swers prayer — the  parish  church  where  family 
by  family  sat  the  rural  population,  the  happy 
matron  at  the  head,  and  the  toil-worn  hardy 
father  at  the  foot  of  their  allotted  pew,  and  the 
olive  plants  between — the  church  at  whose 
window  waved,  ampler  each  opening  spring, 


74  FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT. 

the  branches  whose  pleasant  shadow  spake  of 
better  trees  and  that  higher  house  of  God 
where  these  be  planted,  and  round  whose  walls 
are  sprinkled  the  grassy  mounds  where  the  fa- 
thers sleep,  but  where  many  of  the  children 
now  must  not  sleep — the  church  which  has  the 
consecration  which  the  Angel  of  the  covenant 
alone  can  give — traditions  of  worthies  who 
preached  and  wrestled  there — recollections  of 
Peniel  meetings,  new-year  sermons,  and  com- 
munion seasons  when  God  was  in  the  place — 
birth-place  associations  of  men  who  believe  that 
it  was  there  that  they  were  born  again  ?  Many 
a  noble  manly  heart  was  like  to  burst  that  re- 
cent Sabbath,  when  minister  and  people  took 
their  last  look  of  the  beautiful  house  where 
they  and  their  fathers  had  worshipped,  and 
gathering  up  their  psalm-books  and  Bibles 
which  had  lain  on  the  book-board  so  long, 
they  left  the  vacant  pulpit,  and  the  empty 
pews,  "  a  place  in  which  to  bury  strangers." 

But  with  all  its  griefs  and  privations — though 
in  some  parishes  arbitrary  land-owners  have 
refused  the  humblest  hut  to  the  "  outed  "  min- 
isters, and  have  prohibited  their  tenantry  from 
affording  them  an  asylum ;  and  though  many 
congregations  have  no  other  prospect  than  that 
of  worshipping,  like  their  covenanting  ances- 
tors, in  the  open  air — still  the  sacrifice  has  been 
amply  repaid  in  blessings  of  a  nobler  kind. 


FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT.  75 

1.  It  is  a  solemn  testimony  for  truth.  It  is 
something  to  have  impressed  on  the  minds  of 
men  more  deeply  the  truths,  that  God  alone 
is  Lord  of  the  conscience,  and  Christ  alone 
Head  of  the  Church  ;  arid  that  the  relation 
between  a  pastor  of  a  Christian  Congrega- 
tion is  something  too  sacred  to  be  formed 
without  the  consent  of  either  party. 

2.  It  may  remind  the  world  that  there  is  yet 
"  faith  in  the  earth."  It  is  long  since  by  faith 
Abram  left  Ur,  since  Moses  forsook  Egypt.  It 
is  long  since  the  eleventh  chapter  to  the  He- 
brews was  written.  It  is  even  long  since  "  by 
faith"  the  Puritans  esteemed  the  reproach  of 
Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures  in 
Egypt,"  and  since  the  Covenanters  "  endured, 
as  seeing  him  who  is  invisible."  So  incredu- 
lous had  the  world  become,  so  ignorant  of  the 
existence  of  any  heaven-sustained  principle  like 
faith,  that  up  to  the  last  morning,  worldly  men 
were  betting  that  not  fifty  would  secede ;  and, 
doubtless,  judging  by  themselves,  even  minis- 
ters of  the  Gospel  assured  the  world,  that  their 
solemn  protestations  notwithstanding,  not  a 
hundred  would  fulfil  their  pledge.  It  is  well 
that  worldly  men  and  ministers  should  learn 
that  a  class  of  men  exists  whose  "Yea,"  is 
"  Yea." 

3.  It  has  secured  great  advantages  for  the 
evangelization  of  Scotland.     The  Free  Church 


76  FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT. 

has  the  best  of  the  Ministers,  and  the  mass  of 
the  people.  It  has  also  the  goodwill  of  the 
other  Evangelical  communions,  and  in  co-ope- 
ration with  them,  the  field  of  Scotland  is  now 
before  it.  Clerical  etiquette,  and  ecclesiastical 
trammels,  and  civil  interdicts,  will  not  now  re- 
strain its  Ministers.  Broad  Scotland  is  their 
parish,  and  the  last  verses  of  Matthew's  Gospel 
their  commission  ;  and  we  trust  that  many 
people  who  have  long  sat  in  darkness  will  now 
see  a  great  light. 

4.  It  has  elicited  to  a  wonderful  extent  the 
sympathy  and  fraternal  regard  of  Christian 
men,  and  Christian  Churches.  The  kindness 
and  affectionate  fellow-feeling  of  the  people  of 
God  at  home  and  abroad,  have  been  abun- 
dantly exhibited  ;  and  the  Free  Church  Minis- 
ters and  people  have  rejoiced  because  of  the 
consolation.  One  expression  of  this  kindness 
has  been  of  a  peculiarly  seasonable  and  affect- 
ing nature.  Many  Dissenting  congregations 
in  Scotland,  Independents,  Seceding,  Wesleyan, 
have  lent  their  respective  places  of  worship, 
and  even  changed  their  customary  time  of 
meeting  for  the  accommodation  of  their  Free 
Church  friends. 

5.  It  has  opened  a  great  deep  of  liberality 
among  the  Christian  people  of  Scotland.  The 
Free  Church  is  emphatically  the  Church  of 
the  Christian  People.     Comparatively  few 


FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT.  77 

of  the  noble  and  wealthy  adhere  to  it ;  and  the 
exertions  which  its  members  have  made  are 
scarcely  surpassed  by  the  self-surrender  of  its 
Ministers.  One  eminent  legal  practitioner  has 
devoted  a  fifth  of  his  income  for  life  to  the 
cause.  We  lately  heard  of  a  pious  man  in 
humble  life,  who,  by  his  own  hard  labour,  had 
amassed  a  considerable  sum,  and  presented 
nearly  the  whole  of  it,  500£.,  to  the  Free  Church 
Funds.  There  was  a  poor  woman  in  a  parish 
where  most  of  the  land  belonged  to  a  hostile 
proprietor ;  and  in  his  zeal  to  prevent  the  ad- 
herents of  the  Free  Church  from  rearing  a 
place  of  worship,  this  proprietor  endeavoured  to 
buy  up  ail  the  smaller  properties.  This  poor 
woman's  only  support  was  derived  from  a  small 
parcel  of  ground,  little  worth,  but  for  which  the 
rich  man  in  his  eagerness  offered  an  enormous 
price.  The  poor  woman  withstood  the  temp- 
tation, though  such  a  fortune  had  never  been 
within  her  reach  before.  She  said,  "  From  my 
Maker  I  got  it,  and  to  my  Maker  I  give  it 
back."  And  on  the  spot  of  ground  thus  given, 
a  Free  Church  will  now  be  built.  And  just  as 
many  Ministers  are  content  to  lodge  in  mean 
abodes,  and  even  to  send  their  families  to  dis- 
tant places,  that  they  may  not  be  compelled  to 
quit  the  scene  of  their  wonted  labours ;  so 
many  of  their  people  in  their  turn  have  made 
corresponding  sacrifices,  have   abridged  their 


78  FAREWELL    TO    EGYPT. 

comforts,  changed  their  dwellings,  and  sold 
their  possessions,  that  they  may  aid  in  this 
blessed  work.  Never  did  the  people  of  Scot- 
land offer  to  any  cause  so  willingly. 

So  abundant  have  the  people's  contributions 
been,  that  some  may  imagine  no  foreign  aid  is 
needed.  It  will  be  enough  in  a  single  sentence 
to  say,  that  nothing  can  be  more  remote  from 
the  fact,  than  such  a  supposition.  To  build 
five  or  six  hundred  churches  in  the  humblest 
style  requires  a  large  immediate  outlay.  Scot- 
land is  a  country  comparatively  poor;  "not 
many  rich,  not  many  noble,77  are  yet  numbered 
among  the  adherents  of  the  protesting  Church. 
The  people  have  done  enough  to  show  their 
ardent  zeal,  and  enough  to  give  them  a  claim 
on  the  sympathy  and  energetic  support  of 
Christian  men  elsewhere.  But  in  the  em- 
phatic words  of  a  communication  last  week  re- 
ceived from  Edinburgh,  "  unless  they  are  most 
liberally,  munificently ;  and  promptly  assisted, 
the  cause  will  deeply  suffer,  and  many  of  our 
Ministers  and  people  will  be  exposed  to  the 
most  cruel  hardship.'7 

June  26,  1843. 


THE 


CHURCH  IN  THE  HOUSE, 


In  Greenland,  when  a  stranger  knocks  at 
the  door,  he  asks,  "Is  God  in  this  house?" 
And  if  they  answer,  "  Yes,"  he  enters.  Reader, 
this  little  messenger  knocks  at  your  door  with 
the  Greenland  salutation.  Is  God  in  this 
House  ?  Were  you  like  Abraham,  entertain- 
ing an  angel  unawares,  what  would  be  the  re- 
port he  would  take  back  to  heaven  ?  Would 
he  find  you  commanding  your  children  and 
your  household,  and  teaching  them  the  way 
of  the  Lord  ?  Would  he  find  an  altar  in  your 
dwelling?  Do  you  worship  God  with  your 
children  ?     Is  there  a  Church  in  your  house  ? 

If  not,  then  God  is  not  in  your  house.  A 
prayerless  family  is  a  godless  family.  It  is 
a  family  on  which  Jehovah  frowns.  He  will 
pour  out  his  fury  upon  it  some  day.  "  O  Lord, 
pour  out  thy  fury  upon  the  heathen  that  know 


80  THE    CHURCH 

thee  not,  and  upon  the  families  that  call  not 
on  thy  name."*  A  prayerless  family  and  a 
heathen  family  are  here  accounted  the  same. 

I  cannot  mention  all  the  reasons  in  favour 
of  family  worship  ;  but  if  you  ponder  them,  the 
four  following  should  suffice  : — 

1.  The  godly  householders  mentioned  in 
Scripture  practised  it.  Would  you  desire  to  be 
like  Abraham,  the  friend  of  God  ?  Wherever 
he  pitched  his  tent,  he  builded  an  altar,  and 
called  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  ;t  and  Jehovah 
declared  concerning  him,  "  I  know  Abraham, 
that  he  will  command  his  children  and  his 
household  after  him,  and  they  will  keep  the 
way  of  the  Lord. "J  Would  you  like  to  re- 
semble Job,  "  the  perfect  and  upright  man,  one 
that  feared  God  and  eschewed  evil  ?"  He  used 
to  bring  his  children  together,  and  rose  early 
in  the  morning,  and  offered  a  sacrifice  of  as 
many  victims  as  he  had  sons  and  daughters, 
teaching  us  how  express  and  special  our  inter- 
cession for  our  families  should  be,  and  this  he  did 
"  continually." §  Would  you  resemble  David, 
the  man  after  God's  own  heart  ?  At  the  close 
of  a  busy  day,  we  find  him  going  "  home  to 
bless  his  household." II  Do  you  envy  Cornelius, 
whose  prayers  were  heard,  and  to  whom  the 
Lord  sent  a  special  messenger  to  teach  him  the 

*  Jer.  x.  25.  t  Gen.  xii.  7,  8 ;  xiii.  4,  8. 

I  Gen.  xviii.  19.        §  Job  i.  5.  8.        II  1  Chron.  xvi.  43. 


IN    THE    HOUSE.  81 

way  of  salvation  ?     He  was  "  a  devout  man, 
one  who  feared  God  with  all  his  house,  and 
prayed   to  God   always  ;"    and   who  was   so 
anxious  for  the  salvation  of  his  family,  that  he 
got  together  his  kinsmen  and  near  friends,  that 
they  might  be  ready  to  hear  the  apostle  when 
he  arrived,  and  share  with  himself  the  benefit.* 
Do  you  admire  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  Paul's 
"  helpers  in  Christ  Jesus,"  and  who  were  so 
skilful  in  the  Scriptures,  that  they  were  able  to 
teach  a  young  minister  the  way  of  God  more 
perfectly  ?     You  will  find  that  one  reason  for 
their  familiarity  with  Scripture  was,  that  they 
had  "  a  Church  in  their  house" f    In  the  Bible 
you  find  instances  of  family  devotion  in  all 
ranks  of  life,  from  the  king  to  the  artisan,  from 
David's  palace  to  the  tent  of  Aquila  ;  to  teach 
you  that  whatever  be  your  situation  in  life,  you 
should  still  have  a  Church  in  your  house.     I 
have  sometimes  seen  family  worship  in  great 
houses  :  but  I  have  felt  that  God  was  quite  as 
near  when  I  knelt  with  a  praying  family  on 
the  earthen  floor  of  their  cottage.    I  have  known 
of  family  worship  among  the  reapers  in  a  barn. 
It  used  to  be  common  in  the  fishing-boats  upon 
the  friths  and  lakes  of  Scotland.    I  have  heard 
of  its  being  observed  in  the  depths  of  a  coal-pit. 
I  scarcely  know  the  situation  in  life  in  which 
a  willing  family  might  not  contrive  to  pray 

*  Acts  x.  2,  24, 31,  23.        t  Acts  xviii.  26 :  Rom.  xvi.  5. 


82  THE    CHURCH 

together.  If  you  live  in  a  scoffing  ungodly 
neighbourhood,  so  much  the  better.  Abraham 
built  his  altar  whilst  heathen  Canaanites  looked 
on.  He  lifted  up  a  testimony  for  God,  and 
God  honoured  him — so  that  Abimelech,  his 
neighbour,  was  constrained  to  say,  "  God  is 
with  thee  in  all  that  thou  doest."* 

2.  Wherever  religion  revives,  family  worship 
abounds.  When  the  Spirit  is  poured  out  upon 
the  house  of  David,  "  the  land  shall  mourn, 
"  every  family  apart."t  I  can  remember  no 
instance  of  a  great  revival,  of  which  this  was 
not  an  attendant  sign.  Listen  to  the  account 
which  Mr.  Baxter  gives  of  Kidderminster  during 
his  ministry.  "  On  the  Lord's-day  there  was 
no  disorder  to  be  seen  in  the  streets,  but  you 
might  hear  a  hundred  families  singing  psalms 
and  repeating  sermons,  as  you  passed  through 
the  streets.  When  I  came  thither  first,  there 
was  about  one  family  in  a  street  that  wor- 
shipped God  and  called  on  his  name,  and  when 
I  came  away,  there  were  some  streets,  where 
there  was  not  above  one  family  in  the  side  of 
a  street  that  did  not  so  ;  and  that  did  not  by 
professing  serious  godliness  gives  us  some  hopes 
of  their  sincerity  :  and  those  families  which 
were  the  worst,  being  inns  and  ale-houses, 
usually  some  persons  in  each  did  seem  to  be 
religious.  Some  of  the  poor  men  did  compe- 
*  Gen.  xxi.  22.  t  Zech.  x.  12. 


IN    THE    HOUSE.  83 

tently  understand  the  body  of  divinity,  and 
were  able  to  judge  in  difficult  controversies. 
Some  of  them  were  so  able  in  prayer,  that  very 
few  ministers  did  match  them  in  order,  and  ful- 
ness, and  apt  expressions,  and  holy  oratory 
with  fervency.  Abundance  of  them  were  able 
to  pray  very  laudably  with  their  families  or 
with  others.  The  temper  of  their  minds  and 
the  innocency  of  their  lives  was  much  more 
laudable  than  their  parts."  When  the  Spirit  is 
poured  upon  us,  our  cities  will  all  present  a 
similar  aspect. 

3.  It  would  make  your  home  much  happier 
if  you  had  a  Church  in  your  house.  It  has 
been  said  with  much  truth,  "  Family  prayer  is 
the  oil  which  removes  friction,  and  causes  all 
the  complicated  wheels  of  the  family  to  move 
smoothly  and  noiselessly."  It  is  one  way,  and 
the  very  best,  for  bringing  all  the  members  of 
a  family  together,  and  for  promoting  that  har- 
mony of  feeling  so  essential  to  domestic  enjoy- 
ment. Some  families  are  held  together  by 
hardly  any  bond,  except  that  they  lodge  under 
the  same  roof,  and  assemble  round  the  same 
board.  But  when  they  meet,  it  is  not  to  fulfil 
one  another's  joy.  They  are  selfish  and  sullen ; 
cross  words,  peevish  answers,  and  angry  re- 
criminations make  up  all  their  intercourse. 
The  customary  meal  is  despatched  in  a  gloomy 
silence,  or  embittered  by  fretful  words.     I  have 


84  THE    CHURCH 

known  families  so  little  at  home  with  one 
another,  that  it  was  quite  a  relief  when  any 
casual  visiter  dropped  in  to  break  the  irksome- 
ness  of  their  own  society.  I  have  seen  bro- 
thers and  sisters  so  ill-assorted  in  the  families 
in  which  God  had  planted  them  together,  that 
they  had  no  subject  of  common  interest,  and 
no  mutual  love  nor  confidence.  They  could 
converse  and  be  happy  with  strangers,  but  not 
with  one  another.  And  I  have  seen  this  in 
families  where  there  was  a  form  of  family  wor- 
ship,— a  pretence,  a  semblance  of  prayer — but 
never  where  there  was  the  reality.  If  yours 
be  such  a  family,  before  peace  and  affection 
visit  it,  you  must  say,  "  Come  and  let  us  seek 
the  Lord."  If  you  would  see  the  dawn  of 
blander  days  on  that  clouded  and  lowering 
circle,  you  must  cry,  "  Lord,  lift  thou  up  the 
light  of  thy  countenance  upon  us,  and  so  we 
shall  be  glad."  If  you  could  only  persuade 
them  to  take  into  their  hands  the  volume  that 
speaks  good  will  to  man,  and  as  they  sit  to- 
gether to  read  by  turns  its  messages  of  kind- 
ness ;  and  then  as  they  bowed  before  the 
mercy-seat,  if  in  their  common  name,  you  said, 
Our  Father,  and  confessed  their  common  sins, 
returned  thanks  for  any  mercies  which  the  day 
had  brought,  and  asked  such  blessings  as  all 
need,  this  process  could  not  be  long  persisted 
in,  till  you  would  see  its  softening  and  bar- 


IN   THE    HOUSE.  85 

monizing  influence.  The  dew  of  Hermon 
would  begin  to  come  down,  and  you  would 
exclaim  as  you  saw  the  difference,  "Behold 
how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren 
to  dwell  together  in  unity."* 

But  perhaps  your  family  dwells  in  unity — 
but  it  is  not  a  holy  unity.  It  is  not  sanctified 
by  the  Word  of  God  and  by  prayer.  You  are 
happy  in  one  another.  You  are  never  at  a 
loss  for  the  materials  of  a  cheerful  intercourse. 
But  amidst  all  the  sprightliness,  and  cordiality, 
and  kind  feeling  which  encompass  your  fire- 
side, one  ingredient  of  gladness  is  wanting. 
God  is  forgotten.  In  the  morning,  you  meet 
and  give  one  another  a  joyous  greeting,  and 
the  morning  meal  despatched  rush  away  to 
the  day's  engagements  without  a  word  of  ac- 
knowledgment to  that  God  whose  sleepless  eye 
guarded  your  midnight  pillow — without  one 
word  of  prayer  to  bespeak  his  upholding  and 
guidance  in  this  day's  untrodden  path.  And 
when  the  evening  hour  of  intercourse  is  over, 
and  you  have  discussed  the  pleasant  and  pros- 
perous incidents  of  the  day,  you  hie  away, 
cheerful  but  unthankful,  to  a  prayerless  slum 
ber,  perhaps  to  awake  in  death's  dark  valley, 
and  find  that  the  Lord  is  not  with  you.  Your 
family  is  united — but  it  is  a  short-lived  union. 
Your  family-love — God  is  not  in  it,  and  there- 

*  Psalm  cxxxiii. 

8 


86  THE    CHURCH 

fore  heaven  does  not  follow  after  it.  How  it 
would  give  tone  and  intensity  to  the  affection 
of  your  smiling  circle,  if  you  could  be  brought 
to  love  one  another  in  the  Lord  !  With  what 
new  eyes  you  would  learn  to  look  upon  your- 
selves, if  you  came  to  regard  one  another  as 
brethren  for  eternity !  And  how  it  would 
heighten  bliss,  and  take  the  sharpness  out  of 
sorrow,  if  "  For  ever  with  the  Lord,"  were  the 
thought  which  joy  and  grief  most  readily  sug- 
gested !  Were  it  manifest  of  all  the  members 
of  a  family  that  God  is  their  Father,  Christ 
their  elder  Brother,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  their 
Comforter,  such  a  family  would  possess  a  joy 
which  the  removal  of  no  member  could  take 
away.  That  joy  has  often  come  into  house- 
holds through  the  channel  of  domestic  devo- 
tion.    For, 

4.  Family  worship  is  an  ordinance  which 
God  has  often  blessed  to  the  saving  of  souls. 
In  houses  where  it  is  conducted  with  life  and 
feeling,  it  has  often  proved  a  converting  ordi- 
nance. A  few  years  ago,  an  English  gentle- 
man visited  America,  and  spent  some  days 
with  a  pious  friend.  He  was  a  man  of  talent 
and  accomplishments,  but  an  infidel.  Four 
years  afterwards,  he  returned  to  the  same  house, 
a  Christian.  They  wondered  at  the  change, 
but  little  suspected  when  and  where  it  had 
originated.     He  told  them  that  when  he  was 


IN    THE    HOUSE.  87 

present  at  their  family  worship,  on  the  first 
evening  of  his  former  visit,  and  when  after  the 
chapter  was  read,  they  all  knelt  down  to  pray 
— the  recollection  of  such  scenes  in  his  father's 
house  long  years  ago,  rushed  in  on  his  memory, 
so  that  he  did  not  hear  a  single  word.  But  the 
occurrence  made  him  think,  and  his  thought- 
fulness  ended  in  his  leaving  the  howling  wil- 
derness of  infidelity,  and  finding  a  quiet  rest 
in  the  salvation  wrought  out  by  Jesus  Christ. 
In  his  Fireside,  Mr.  Abbot  tells  us  of  a  gay 
young  lady  who  paid  a  visit  of  a  week  in  the 
family  of  a  minister,  an  eminently  holy  man. 
His  fervent  intercessions  for  his  children  and 
the  other  inmates  of  his  dwelling,  went  to  this 
thoughtless  heart :  they  were  the  Spirit's  arrow, 
and  upon  that  family  altar,  his  visiter  was 
enabled  to  present  herself  a  living  sacrifice  to 
God.  It  is  with  the  Church  in  the  house  as 
with  the  church  in  the  village.  The  wayfarer 
may  get  a  word  in  passing,  which  he  never  can 
forget.  The  stranger  that  turns  aside  to  tarry 
for  a  night  may  hear  at  your  family  worship 
the  word  that  will  save  his  soul.  Some  years 
ago,  an  Irish  wanderer,  his  wife,  and  his  sister, 
asked  a  night's  shelter  in  the  cabin  of  a  pious 
schoolmaster.  With  the  characteristic  hospi- 
tality of  his  nation,  the  schoolmaster  made 
them  welcome.  It  was  his  hour  for  evening 
worship  ;  and  when  the  strangers  were  seated, 


88  THE    CHURCH 

he  began  by  reading  slowly  and  solemnly,  the 
second  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians. 
The  young  man  sat  astonished.  The  expres- 
sions, "  Dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,"  "Children 
of  wrath,"  Walking  after  the  course  of  this 
world,"  were  new  to  him.  He  sought  an  ex- 
planation. He  was  told  that  this  is  God's 
account  of  the  state  of  man  by  nature.  He 
felt  that  it  was  exactly  his  own  state.  "  In 
this  way  I  have  walked  from  my  childhood. 
In  the  service  of  the  God  of  this  world  we  have 
come  to  your  house."  He  was  on  the  way  to 
a  fair,  where  he  intended  to  pass  a  quantity  of 
counterfeit  money.  But  God's  Word  had  found 
him  out.  He  produced  his  store  of  coin,  and 
begged  his  host  to  cast  it  into  the  fire  ;  and 
asked  anxiously  if  he  could  not  obtain  the 
Word  of  God  for  himself.  His  request  was 
complied  with,  and  next  morning,  with  the 
new  treasure,  the  party,  who  had  now  no  errand 
to  the  fair,  returned  to  their  own  home.  Per- 
haps, by  this  time,  the  pious  schoolmaster  has 
met  his  guest  w7ithin  the  gates  of  the  city,  out- 
side of  which  are  thieves,  and  whatsoever 
maketh  a  lie.  But  I  cannot  enumerate  all  the 
conversions  which  have  occurred  at  the  Church 
in  the  House.  Many  servants  have  been 
awakened  there.  Children  have  often  heard 
there  truths,  which,  when  the  Spirit  brought 
them  to  remembrance  in  after  days — perhaps, 


IN   THE    HOUSE.  89 

in  days  of  profligacy,  and  when  far  from  their 
father's  house — have  sent  home  the  prodigal. 
It  is  not  only  of  Zion's  solemn  assemblies,  but 
of  Jacob's  humble  dwellings — the  little  fireside 
sanctuaries — "  that  the  Lord  shall  count,  when 
he  writeth  up  the  people,  This  man  was  born 
there."  In  your  house,  there  have  been,  per- 
haps, several  immortal  spirits  born  into  the 
world.     Have  there  been  any  born  again  ? 

Prayerless  parents  !  Your  irreligion  may 
prove  your  children's  damnation.  They  might 
have  been  within  the  fold  of  the  Saviour  by 
this  time,  had  not  you  hindered  them  when 
entering  in.  That  time  when  God  visited  your 
family  with  a  heavy  stroke,  they  were  thought- 
ful for  a  season,  but  there  was  no  Church  in 
your  house  to  give  a  heavenly  direction  to  that 
thoughtfulness,  and  it  soon  died  away.  That 
evening  when  they  came  home  from  the  Sab- 
bath School  so  serious,  if  you  had  been  a  pious 
father  or  mother,  you  would  have  taken  your 
boy  aside,  and  spoken  tenderly  to  him,  and 
asked  what  his  teacher  had  been  telling  him  ; 
and  you  would  have  prayed  with  him,  and 
tried  to  deepen  the  impression.  But  your 
children  came  in  from  the  church  or  school, 
and  found  no  Church  in  their  father's  house. 
Their  hearts  were  softened,  but  your  worldli- 
ness  soon  hardened  them.  The  seed  of  the 
kingdom  was  just  springing  in  their ^Y-  V  and 
8* 


90  THE    CHURCH 

by  this  time  might  have  been  a  rich  harvest  of 
salvation  ;  but  in  the  atmosphere  of  your  un 
godly  house,  the  tender  blade  withered  instantly. 
Your  idle  talk,  your  frivolity,  your  Sunday 
visiters,  your  prayerless  evening,  ruined  all. 
Your  children  were  coming  to  Christ,  and  you 
suffered  them  not.  And  you  will  not  need  to 
hinder  them  long.  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity 
against  God ;  but  no  enmity  so  deep  as  theirs 
who  were  almost  reconciled  and  then  drew 
back.  You  drove  your  children  back.  You 
hardened  them.  They  may  never  more  be 
moved.  They  may  grow  up  as  prayerless  and 
ungodly  as  yourself.  If  God  should  change 
yourself,  they  may  soon  be  too  hard  for  your 
own  tears  and  entreaties.  If  you  die  as  you 
are,  their  evil  works  will  follow  you  to  the  world 
of  woe,  and  pour  new  ingredients  into  your 
own  cup  of  wrath.  O  !  think  of  these  things. 
A  prayerless  house  is  not  only  a  cheerless  one, 
but  it  is  a  guilty  one ;  for  where  God  is  not, 
there  Satan  is. 

But  I  know  not  why  I  should  multiply  words 
to  prove  a  duty  which  nature  teaches.  The 
poor  Pagan  with  his  household  gods  and  family 
altar  will  rise  in  the  judgment  against  some  of 
this  generation  and  will  condemn  them.  In- 
stead, therefore,  of  saying  more  on  the  obliga- 
tion and  advantages  of  this  most  reasonable 
servic\ t0  ^Jhall  endeavour  to  give  some  plain 


IN   THE    HOUSE.  91 

directions  to  those  into  whose  hearts  the  Lord 
has  put  the  desire  to  begin  it. 

1.  Can  you  sing?  or  is  there  any  one  in  the 
house  who  can  ?  You  will  find  it  enliven  the 
service  wonderfully  if  you  can  make  "  a  joyful 
noise  unto  the  Lord."  The  psalm  or  hymn  is 
a  part  of  the  service  which  the  youngest  enjoy, 
and  in  which  they  will  gladly  take  a  share. 

2.  There  is  the  reading  of  the  Word  of  God. 
You  may  go  straight  through,  or  you  may 
select  a  course  of  subjects.  For  instance,  you 
might  read  the  parables  as  one  series,  and  the 
miracles  of  Christ  as  another.  You  might 
select  the  biographical  portions,  and  read  the 
lives  of  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham,  Peter,  Paul, 
&c. :  or  you  might  read  the  Epistles  in  con- 
nexion with  the  history  of  the  Churches,  or  in- 
dividuals to  whom  they  are  addressed.  Thus 
you  might  compare  Ephesians  with  Acts  xviii 
— xx.,  and  with  Rev.  ii.  1 — 8 ;  or  Thessalonians 
with  Acts  xvii.  1 — 13;  and  you  might  com- 
pare the  Psalms  with  the  period  in  David's  his- 
tory when  each  was  written,  and  the  Prophe- 
cies with  those  passages  which  record  their  ful- 
filment— a  comparison,  which  a  Bible,  with 
good  marginal  references,  will  enable  you  to 
make.  Or  you  may  select  passages  appropriate 
to  particular  seasons.  On  the  morning  of  a 
Lord's-day,  you  might  read  Psalm  xlviii.,  lxiii., 
lxxxiv.j  xcii.,  cxviii. ;  John  xx. ;  Rev.  i.,  &c. 


92  THE   CHURCH 

On  a  sacramental  Sabbath,  Psalm  xxii.,  xlv. ; 
Isa.  liii. ;  Matt.  xxvi. ;  John  vi.,  &c.  It  might 
help  to  keep  attention  awake,  if  each  read  a 
verse  in  rotation.  At  other  times  there  might 
be  more  solemnity  if  the  same  person  read  the 
whole  continuously.  It  would  make  it  more 
impressive  and  more  memorable,  if  you  occa- 
sionally asked  a  question,  or  made  a  few  re- 
marks on  the  passage  read.  For  instance,  you 
read  the  nineteenth  of  Luke,  and  this  is  your 
commentary  as  you  go  along. 

1.  "  And  Jesus  entered  and  passed  through  Jericho. 

2.  "  And  behold  there  was  a  man  named  Zaccheus,  which 
was  the  chief  among  the  publicans  (or  tax-gatherers,)  and 
he  was  rich. 

3.  "  And  he  sought  to  see  Jesus,  who  he  was  :  and  could 
not  for  the  press,  because  he  was  little  of  stature." 

This  was  the  last  time  that  Jesus  passed 
through  Jericho.  He  had  often  passed  quietly 
through  it  before  ;  but  now  his  time  was  fully 
come,  and  he  could  not  be  hid.  The  road  was 
full  of  passengers  at  this  season  at  any  rate  ; 
for  it  was  Passover  time,  and  they  were  all  go- 
ing up  to  Jerusalem.  Besides,  the  sensation  in 
Jericho  was  increased  by  the  miracle  which 
Jesus  had  just  wrought  on  the  blind  beggar, 
and  which  we  read  in  the  last  chapter  yester- 
day. The  crowd  was  so  great  that  Zaccheus 
could  get  no  opening  to  push  through,  and  he 
was  so  little  that  he  could  not  see  over  other 
people's  shoulders. 


IN    THE    HOUSE.  93 

4.  "  And  he  ran  before,  and  climbed  up  into  a  sycamore- 
tree  to  see  him :  for  he  was  to  pass  that  way. 

5.  "  And  when  Jesus  came  to  the  place  he  looked  up,  and 
saw  him,  and  said  unto  him,  Zaccheus,  make  haste,  and  come 
down  ;  for  to-day  I  must  abide  at  thy  house." 

How  surprised  he  must  have  been  !  Up  in 
the  leafy  sycamore,  he  never  expected  to  be 
noticed.  But  see  !  Jesus  stands  still  and  looks 
at  him  as  if  he  were  about  to  speak.  Perhaps 
Zaccheus  expected  to  get  a  rebuke  before  the 
multitude  for  his  villanies,  when  Jesus,  in  his 
own  gentle  way,  just  says,  "  Zaccheus,  make 
haste,  and  come  down  ;  for  to-day  I  must  abide 
at  thy  house."     Grace  went  with  the  word. 

6.  "  And  he  made  haste,  and  came  down,  and  received  hinc 
joyfully. 

7.  "  And  when  they  saw  it,  they  all  murmured,  saying, 
That  he  was  gone  to  be  guest  with  a  man  that  is  a  sinner." 

There  were  many  who  felt  that  they  had  a 
better  right  to  this  distinction  than  the  mean 
grasping  tax-gatherer.  Many  of  them  felt  as 
if  they  were  not  sinners.  It  lowered  their 
opinion  of  Christ,  that  he  would  condescend  to 
become  the  guest  of  such  a  man.  They  little 
knew  the  reason. 

'  And  Zaccheus  stood,  and  said  unto  the  Lord,  Behold, 
Lord,  the  half  of  my  goods  I  give  to  the  poor :  and  if  I  have 
taken  anything  from  any  man  by  false  accusation,  I  restore 
him  fourfold." 

How  glad  he  must  have  been !  A  happy 
heart  devises  liberal  things — and  so  happy  had 


94  THE    CHURCH* 

this  visit  made  him,  that  his  greedy  soul  had 
no  longer  love  for  money.  He  stood  up  like 
one  on  whom  a  sudden  thought  had  come,  or 
who  wished  to  give  solemnity  to  what  he  said, 
and  declared  that  he  would  make  it  all  up  to 
those  whom  he  had  wronged,  and  give  half 
his  substance  to  the  poor.  This  was  the  effect 
of  receiving  Jesus.  Where  the  love  of  Christ 
enters,  the  love  of  the  world  goes  out.  What 
would  the  murmurers  think  when  they  saw 
this  change  upon  the  "  sinner." 

9.  <c  And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  This  day  is  salvation  come 
to  this  house,  forasmuch  as  he  also  is  a  son  of  Abraham." 

It  was  his  "joyful  receiving"  of  Jesus  which 
made  him  a  son  of  Abraham.  It  made  him 
more.  It  made  him  one  of  the  sons  of  God.* 
Have  we  received  Christ  ?  Has  his  voice  ever 
made  us  joyful  ?  Have  we  ever  parted  with 
"  goods,"  or  anything  else  from  gratitude  to 
Him  ?  Now  let  us  remember  the  next  verse, 
for  it  is  one  of  Christ's  own  faithful  sayings. 

10.  "  For  the  Son  of  Man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost." 

This  is  one  way.  Another,  and  perhaps  bet- 
ter way,  is  to  make  the  members  of  the  family 
supply  the  commentary  themselves.  This 
evening,  before  it  is  so  late  that  you  are  all 
sleepy,  you  sit  round  the  table,  each  with  his 

*  John  i.  12. 


IN    THE    HOUSE.  95 

Bible  open  before  him ;  and  the  passage  selected 
is  the  forty-fifth  of  Isaiah. 

1.  "Thus  saith  the  Lord  to  his  anointed,  to  Cyrus,  whose 
right  hand  I  have  holden,  to  subdue  nations  before  him ;  and 
I  will  loose  the  loins  of  kings,  to  open  before  him  the  two- 
leaved  gates ;  and  the  gates  shall  not  be  shut." 

Father.  The  prophet  has  been  foretelling 
the  fall  of  Babylon,  and  here  he  names  its  con- 
queror.    Mary,  what  is  his  name  ? 

Mary.  Cyrus. 

Father.  Does  any  one  know  how  long  after 
this  it  was  before  Cyrus  made  his  appearance  ? 
— Can  no  one  tell?  George,  your  Bible  has 
got  the  date  on  its  margin.  Can  you  tell  when 
Isaiah  uttered  this  prophecy  ? 

George.  About  712  years  before  Christ. 

Father.  Now  if  you  will  look  to  the  begin- 
ning of  Ezra,  you  will  see  the  first  year  of 
Cyrus  set  down  there. 

George.  Before  Christ  536. 

Father.  Then  how  long  before  had  the  Lord 
called  Cyrus  by  his  name  ? 

George.  Nearly  200  years. 

Father.  It  is  not  very  long  since  John  and 
Henry  finished  the  Life  of  Cyrus.  Do  you 
remember  any  facts  which  illustrate  this  pro- 
phecy ? 

Henry.  The  Lord  says,  "  I  have  holden  his 
right  hand  to  subdue  nations  before  him." 
Cyrus  subdued  the  Lydians  with  their  rich 


96  THE   CHURCH 

King  Crcesus,  the  Phrygians,  the  Phoenicians, 
and  many  more,  as  well  as  the  Babylonians. 

John.  Yes ;  and  when  he  took  Babylon,  "  the 
gates  were  not  shut."  For  the  people  were  all 
drinking  and  diverting  themselves,  when  he 
dried  up  the  river  ;  and  had  forgot  to  shut  the 
gates  at  the  end  of  the  streets  which  open  into 
the  river — so  that  Cyrus  had  nothing  to  do 
but  march  down  the  dry  channel,  and  then 
climb  up  the  banks  into  the  city. 

Father.  Very  true — but  do  you  remember 
nothing  more  about  "  opening  the  two-leaved 
gates  ?" 

Henry.  Oh,  yes  !  When  the  King  of  Baby- 
lon heard  the  uproar  in  the  city,  he  sent  to  find 
out  what  was  the  matter,  and  when  they  were 
opening  the  palace  gates  to  let  out  the  king's 
messenger,  the  Persians  rushed  in  and  killed 
the  king. 

Try  to  bring  out  some  lesson  that  may  be 
needed  that  very  day.  You  read  at  morning 
worship  that  verse,  1  Cor.  x.  31. 

"  Whether,  therefore,  ye  eat  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  ye  do, 
do  all  to  the  glory  of  God." 

Father.  What  does  that  mean  ? 

John.  That  everything,  however  little,  we 
are  to  do  it  so  as  to  please  God. 

Father.  Quite  so.  It  means  that  you, 
children,  when  learning  your  lessons,  or  at 


IN   THE    HOUSE.  97 

play — that  Sarah  down  stairs,  and  your  father 
in  his  counting-room,  should  all  remember  that 
we  have  a  Father  in  heaven,  and  should  do 
every  thing,  the  little  things  and  the  great 
things,  in  the  way  that  pleases  Him. 

The  passage  which  you  mean  to  read  with 
your  family,  read  carefully  over  beforehand ; 
and  consider  what  are  its  most  striking  points 
and  most  useful  lessons  ;  and  a  little  practice 
will  make  you  a  good  family  expositor. 

3.  The  last  and  most  important  part  of  family 
worship  is  united  prayer.  By  prayer,  I  mean 
the  outpouring  of  an  earnest  heart  in  the  name 
of  Jesus.  It  is  not  prayer  when  you  merely 
read  or  repeat  a  heartless  form.  You  do  not 
ask  a  blessing  on  your  daily  bread,  when  you 
merely  mutter  over  it  a  charm — a  few  inarti- 
culate words  for  custom's  sake.  Nor  do  you 
pray  when,  you  bend  the  knee,  and  read  or 
say  a  few  petitions  which  you  do  not  feel,  and 
which  you  forget  as  soon  as  you  have  uttered. 
It  is  prayer,  when  you  ask  from  God  blessings 
which  you  are  really  anxious  to  obtain,  and 
when,  in  a  conviction  of  your  own  unworthi- 
ness,  you  ask  them  for  the  sake  of  Him  who 
indeed  is  worthy,  the  well- beloved  Son  of  God. 
It  is  prayer,  when  you  ask  so  earnestly  that 
you  remember  afterwards  what  you  sought, 
and  so  believingly,  that,  looking  up,  you  ex- 
pect an  answer.  Be  earnest.  Better  no  prayer, 
9 


98  THE    CHURCH 

than  give  your  family  a  distaste  at  prayer,  by 
your  dulness  and  formality.  Be  honest.  Deal 
truly  with  the  God  of  Truth.  Do  not  mock 
the  Searcher  of  hearts.  Give  yourself  to  the 
Lord — then  set  up  his  worship.  Go  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  yourself,  and  then  seek  to  bring  your 
children  with  you. 

In  family  prayer  you  may  be  more  minute 
and  specific  than  it  is  possible  to  be  in  more 
public  services.  If  you  have  a  deep  reverence 
of  God  upon  your  mind,  there  is  no  fear  that 
particularity  will  degenerate  into  an  unholy 
familiarity.  If  any  of  your  friends  are  in  afflic- 
tion, pray  for  them.  If  your  children  are  at 
school,  or  at  a  Sabbath-class,  pray  for  their 
teacher.  Pray  for  your  brethren  in  church- 
fellowship,  that  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  may  be 
upon  them,  and  that  they  may  dwell  in  love. 
Pray  #  for  the  office-bearers  of  your  Church; 
pray  for  your  minister.  Endeavour  to  interest 
your  family  in  the  extension  of  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom,  and  pray  for  faithful  ministers  and 
missionaries,  especially  in  those  places  in  which 
you  feel  mosUinterested.  Every  morning  com- 
mit your  way  to  God.  Bespeak  his  presence 
in  all  the  duties  and  temptations  of  the  day — 
his  blessing  on  your  intercourse  ;  and  especially 
on  any  means  of  grace,  which  you  hope  to 
enjoy.  Every  night  commend  yourselves  to 
his  watchful  keeping,  that  you  may  sleep  and 


IN   THE    HOUSE.  99 

wake  with  him.  Pray  over  the  Scriptures  you 
have  read.  And  abound  in  thanksgiving.  Cul- 
tivate a  cheerful  and  a  grateful  spirit ;  think  if 
there  be  any  mercies  you  have  lately  received, 
and  acknowledge  them.  Has  any  one  arrived 
from  a  journey  safe  and  well  ?  Is  a  sick  mem- 
ber of  the  family  restored  ?  Have  you  heard 
good  news  from  the  far  country,  tidings  from 
the  absent  brother  ?  Were  you  at  church  or 
at  the  prayer-meeting  this  evening?  and  did 
you  find  it  refreshing  1  Have  you  read  in  your 
"Missionary  Magazine"  the  conversion  of  a 
Heathen  or  a  Jew  ?  Have  you  heard  that  God 
is  pouring  out  his  Spirit  on  some  corner  of  our 
own  country  ?  Have  you  got  an  answer  to 
a  former  prayer?  Praise  the  Lord,  for  it  is 
pleasant. 

It  will  depend  on  the  age  of  your  family  and 
the  amount  of  your  leisure,  how  long  the  ser- 
vice should  be.  Some  hurry  it  over  in  a  way 
which  shows  that  they  have  no  heart  in  it 
themselves.  Others  prolong  it  so,  that  every 
one  else  is  wearied.  Ten  minutes  of  a  formal 
service  will  look  longer  than  twice  the  time 
when  the  whole  soul  is  in  it. 

Be  consistent.     "  Behave  yourself  wisely  in 

a  perfect  way.     Walk  within  ycur  house  with 

a  perfect  heart."*     If  you  be  devout  in  prayer, 

and  unholy  in  practice ;  if  you  be  heavenly- 

*  Psalm  ci.  2. 


100  THE    CHURCH 

minded  at  the  hour  of  worship,  and  frivolous, 
or  proud,  or  passionate  all  the  day ;  if  you 
teach  your  children  in  the  morning,  "  Be  not 
conformed  to  this  world,"  and  if  half  the  day's 
lessons  be  designed  to  conform  them  to  the 
world  as  nearly  as  possible ;  if  you  pray  for 
your  household  that  you  may  be  all  meek,  and 
gentle,  and  kindly-affectioned  one  to  another, 
and  then  treat  your  servants  as  haughtily  as  if 
they  were  your  slaves  or  your  enemies ;  your 
contradictory  prayers  and  practices  will  be  a 
terrible  stumbling-block  in  their  way  to  the 
kingdom.  God  may  convert  them  ;  but  your 
conduct  will  make  that  miracle  of  grace  more 
surprising  still. 

Reader,  I  do  not  know  whether  by  this  time 
you  are  almost  persuaded,  or  have  actually 
determined  to  begin.  When  I  think  what  you 
are  losing  who  are  strangers  to  this  delightful 
exercise,  and  when  I  farther  think  on  the 
blessed  results  which  might  flow  from  your 
now  beginning  it,  I  am  loth  to  leave  off — 
though  it  is  time  we  were  done.  Do  you  still 
hesitate  ?     What  is  your  excuse  1 

"  I  never  saw  the  advantages  you  describe. 
It  has  always  been  a  dull  service  wherever  I 
have  seen  it."  But  you  need  not  make  it  dull. 
Throw  your  whole  heart  and  soul  into  it,  and 
it  will  be  lively  enough.     It  is  often  dull  be- 


IN    THE    HOUSE.  101 

cause  it  is  a  mere  form.  Do  you  make  it  a 
living  service,  and  it  will  not  be  dull.  It  is 
often  dull  because  it  is  tedious.  Do  not  spin  it 
out.  Better  one  paragraph  of  Scripture,  feel- 
ingly and  intelligently  read,  than  a  whole 
chapter  listlessly  drawled  over.  Better  a  prayer 
no  longer  than  the  publican's,*  if  the  whole 
soul  be  in  it,  than  a  weary  form  without  feel- 
ing. Be  fervent,  and  you  will  not  be  dull. 
Family  prayer  has  often  been  so  conducted, 
that  instead  of  wearying  at  it,  children  felt  it  a 
punishment  to  be  excluded.  I  was  once  told 
of  a  cottage  patriarch  who  was  born  in  those 
days,  when  Scotland  had  a  Church  in  almost 
every  house.  There  was  one  in  his  father's 
dwelling ;  and  when  he  pitched  a  tent  for  him- 
self he  builded  an  altar.  Round  that  altar  a 
goodly  number  of  olive  plants  grew  up,  but, 
one  by  one,  they  were  either  planted  out  in 
families  of  their  own,  or  God  took  them,  till  he 
and  his  old  partner  found  themselves,  just  as 
at  their  first  ouset  in  life,  alone.  But  their 
family  worship  continued  as  of  old.  At  last 
his  fellow-traveller  left  him.  Still  he  carried 
on  the  worship  by  himself.  So  sweet  was  the 
memory  of  it  in  his  father's  house,  and  so  plea- 
sant had  he  found  it  in  his  own,  that  he  could 
not  give  it  up.  But  as  he  sat  in  his  silent 
habitation,  morning  and  evening,  his  quiver- 

*  Luke  xviii.  13. 

9* 


102  THE   CHURCH 

ing  voice  was  overheard  singing  the  old  psalm- 
tune,  reading  aloud  the  chapter,  and  praying 
as  if  others  still  worshipped  by  his  side.  He 
had  not  found  it  dull. 

"  I  have  no  time."  If  you  really  value  time, 
family  prayer  is  good  husbandry  of  time.  What 
you  do  with  God's  blessing  is  much  better  and 
faster  done  than  what  you  do  without  it,  and  is 
not  so  likely  to  need  doing  over  again.  You 
will  find  it  here  as  Sir  Matthew  Hale  found 
it  with  the  Sabbath.  What  you  take  from  God, 
he  can  easily  take  from  you.  If  other  things 
were  equal,  I  should  expect  far  more  to  be  accom- 
plished in  a  day,  by  the  man  whose  spirit  had 
been  tranquillized,  his  resolution  fortified,  and 
his  activity  quickened  by  morning  prayer,  than 
from  the  man  who  impiously  hurried  out  to  do 
it  all  without  asking  God's  presence.  Philip 
Henry,  who  was  an  excellent  economist  of 
time,  when  early  out  of  bed  to  hasten  the  pre- 
parations for  a  day's  travel,  as  he  called  his 
children  together,  used  to  say  to  them,  "  Prayer 
and  provender  hinder  no  man's  journey."  Try 
his  homely  maxim  and  you  will  find  it  true. 

"  Our  family  is  so  small."  How  many  are 
there  of  you  ?  Are  there  two  ?  Then,  "  Where- 
soever two"  (see  Matt,  xviii.  19,  20).  John 
Howard  and  his  valet,  as  they  journeyed  from 
place  to  place,  used  to  have  family  worship  by 
themselves,  if  they  could  get  no  one  else  to  join 


IN   THE    HOUSE,  103 

them.  "  Wherever  I  have  a  tent,"  he  would 
say,  "  there  God  shall  have  an  altar."  If  there 
be  two  of  you — though  it  should  be  but  a  Ruth 
and  a  Naomi,  a  mother  and  her  daughter,  your 
family  is  large  enough  to  worship  God,  and  to 
get  the  blessing  of  those  who  worship  him. 

K  My  family  is  so  large.  There  are  so  many 
servants,  and  often  so  many  visitors,  that  I  have 
not  courage  to  begin,'  [f  your  family  be  large, 
the  obligation  to  begin  is  all  the  greater.  Many 
suffer  by  your  neglect.  And  if  your  congre- 
gation be  numerous,  the  likelihood  that  some 
good  will  be  done  is  the  greater ;  for  there  are 
more  to  share  the  benefit.  And  why  want 
courage !  Should  not  the  very  fact  that  you 
are  acknowledging  God  encourage  you? 
"  Them  that  honour  me,  I  will  honour."  Begin 
it  belie vingly,  and  in  the  very  attempt  courage 
will  come. 

"But  I  have  no  gift  of  prayer.  I  cannot 
lead  the  devotions  of  my  family."  Prayer  is 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit.*  Before  you  begin 
ask  God  to  give  you  his  Spirit  to  teach  you.f 
I  have  heard  of  stammering  men  who  were 
eloquent  in  prayer,  for  the  Spirit  of  God  spake 
by  them.  When  you  pray,  remember  that 
God  is  listening.  You  have  called  on  him  to 
hearken.  You  have  asked  him  to  lend  you  an 
attentive  ear,  for  you  are  about  to  ask  mercies 

*  Rom.  viii.  26.  t  Luke  xi.  13. 

9* 


104  THE    CHURCH 

for  yourself  and  your  dearest  friends.  Remem- 
ber that  God  is  listening,  and  you  will  forget 
that  men  are  hearkening.  And  they,  in  their 
turn,  when  they  find  that  you  are  really  pray- 
ing, will  have  no  time  to  criticise — for  they 
will  be  constrained  to  join  you  in  your  prayer. 

But  perhaps  I  have  not  after  all  touched  your 
real  objection.  You  refuse  to  pray  in  your 
family,  because  you  know  that  you  do  not  pray 
in  your  closet.  You  evade  it,  because  you 
know  that  your  life  is  such  that  family  worship 
would,  in  your  case,  be  a  mockery,  and  would 
only  add  hypocrisy  to  sin.  Or  you  are  under 
the  influence  of  that  false  shame  which  will 
be  felt  to  be  the  most  shameful  of  all  things, 
when  the  now  affronted  Son  of  God  comes 
again  in  his  glory.*  Is  it  so  ?  And  are  you 
about  to  throw  away  this  tract  with  your  pur- 
pose unchanged  ?  Then  I  can  only  say,  that 
the  day  is  coming,  when  you  will  wish  that  you 
never  had  any  brethren  (Luke  xvi.  27) — that 
the  Lord  had  written  you  childless — that  you 
had  been  a  poor  outcast  with  no  roof  to  shelter 
you,  rather  than  the  ungodly  husband  and  fa- 
ther and  master,  which  you  this  day  are — for 
then  you  had  been  free  from  blood-guiltiness  in 
the  case  of  others'  souls. 

The  considerations  by  which  I  have  tried  to 
urge  you  to  a  discharge  of  this  duty  are,  the 

*  Mark  viii.  38. 


IN   THE    HOUSE.  105 

obligations  which  you  owe  to  yourselves,  to  your 
children,  and  to  God  :  to  yourselves,  who  will 
never  have  the  same  inward  happiness,  nor  the 
same  satisfaction  in  your  family  circle,  till  once 
the  voice  of  rejoicing,  the  melody  and  praise 
which  are  heard  in  the  tabernacles  of  the  righ- 
teous, be  heard  in  your  own :  to  your  children, 
who  will  rise  up  and  call  you  blessed,  if  you 
guide  their  feet  into  the  way  of  peace :  to  God, 
who  offers  to  become  the  never-slumbering 
keeper  of  you  and  yours,  and  to  uphold  your 
going  out  and  coming  in  from  this  time  forth 
for  ever.  These  are  the  considerations  I  have 
used.  Some  of  you  may  think  that  I  would 
have  succeeded  better,  if  I  had  dwelt  on  the 
beautiful  and  picturesque  of  family  religion ;  if 
I  had  carried  you  back  to  the  time  when  the 
glory  of  domestic  piety  had  her  habitation  in 
our  land,  when  villages  and  towns  presented  a 
look  of  Sabbath  quietness  at  the  hour  of  morn- 
ing prayer,  and  when  night  succeeding  night 
repeated  the  praises  of  God  from  the  lonely  up- 
land cottage  to  the  hamlet  on  the  plain.  I 
might  have  done  this ;  and  I  might  have 
planted  you  amidst  the  worshipping  household, 
and  invited  you  to  listen  to  the  cordial  music 
of  their  psalm,  and  the  pathos  and  fervour  of 
their  prayer.  But  one  thing  hinders  me.  I 
know  that  all  that  is  beautiful  and  picturesque 
in  domestic  devotion,  has  not  only  been  wit- 


106  THE    CHURCH 

nessed  but  described  by  those  whom  its  loveli- 
ness could  never  win  to  an  imitation.  It  is  one 
thing  for  a  heart  full  of  sensibility  to  be  touched 
by  contemplating  the  beauty  and  the  joys  of 
true  devotion,  and  quite  another  thing  for  a  re 
newed  heart  to  feel  these  joys.  Hundreds  have 
been  melted  by  the  matchless  poem,  in  which 
the  bard  of  Scotland  describes  the  worship  of  a 
cottage  patriarch ;  but  the  Cottar's  Saturday 
Night  never  taught  any  man  to  pray.  It  is 
told  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  that  sometimes  of  an 
evening  he  took  his  guests  to  an  arbour  on  his 
lawn,  and  let  them  hear  the  distant  music  of  a 
sacred  tune.  It  came  from  the  cottage  of  one 
of  his  dependants,  and  fell  touchingly  on  the 
ear  of  the  great  minstrel  himself — but  it  only 
touched  the  ear.  He  and  his  visitors  went  back 
to  the  drawing-room  at  Abbotsford,  but  it  was 
not  to  raise  with  their  better  skill  an  evening 
hymn  of  thanksgiving  to  the  God  of  all  their 
mercies.  The  distant  cadence  of  a  covenant- 
ing melody  was  somewhat  romantic,  but  nearer 
hand  it  would  have  blended  ill  with  the  dance 
and  the  tabret.  They  all  agreed  that  the  voice 
of  psalms  from  a  cottage  was  picturesque — but 
that  in  the  mansion,  the  harp  and  the  viol 
would  be  more  appropriate.*     If  higher  consi- 

*  These  merry  halls  were  soon  after  silent,  and  "the  voice- 
of  harpers,  and  musicians,  and  of  pipers,"  has  never  since 
been  heard  in  them.  The  "  psalm-singing"  servant  was  a 
brother  born  for  adversity,  and  on  the  breaking-up  of  the 


5N    THE  HOUSE.  107 

derations  have  no  weight,  I  am  sure  that  a  little 
picture-work  will  not  prevail  upon  you. 

Fathers  and  brethren,  some  of  you  are  the 
heads  of  happy  families  to-day.  All  that  I  ask 
is,  that  you  would  make  them  happier  still — 
happy,  not  only  in  your  love,  but  in  the  love  of 
God  the  Saviour,  happy  for  time  and  through 
eternity.  The  happiest  family  will  not  be 
always  so.  The  most  smiling  circle  will  be  in 
tears  some  day.  All  that  I  ask  is,  that  you 
would  secure  for  yourselves  and  your  children, 
a  friend  in  that  blessed  Redeemer,  who  will 
wipe  all  tears  from  all  faces.  Your  families 
may  soon  be  scattered,  and  familiar  voices  may 
cease  to  echo  within  your  walls.  They  may 
go  each  to  his  own,  and  some  of  them  may  go 
far  away.  O  see  to  it,  that  the  God  of  Bethel 
goes  with  them,  that  they  set  up  an  altar  even 

establishment,  refused  to  leave  his  master,  and  rather  than 
leave  him  offered  to  serve  for  nothing.  In  his  new  post  of 
ploughman,  it  affected  the  poor  Baronet  to  hear  "Old  Peep5* 
whistling  to  his  team,  as  he  trod  the  fresh-turned  furrows.  It 
was  a  change  to  both ;  but  it  would  seem  that  the  one  pos- 
sessed a  source  of  perennial  joy  which  outward  calamities 
could  not  dry  up  nor  trouble.  And  after  all,  in  an  angel's 
eye,  which  is  the  greater  genius — the  sublimer  spirit — the 
poet  on  his  Pegasus,  or  the  peasant,  who  in  the  hour  of  ca- 
lamity can  tajke  the  wings  of  a  dove,  and  fly  away  and  be  at 
rest?  Who  that  has  read  the  latter  days  of  Robert  Burns, 
does  not  wish  that  he  had  been  his  own  Cottar  ?  He  some- 
times wished  it  himself.  The  son  of  Bosor  is  not  the  only 
man  whom  the  sight  of  Jacob's  goodly  tents  has  made  to 
sigh,  "  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous." 


108  THE   CHURCH 

on  a  distant  shore,  and  sing  the  Lord's  song  in 
that  foreign  land.  They  may  be  taken  from 
this  earth  altogether,  and  leave  you  alone.  O 
see  to  it  j  that  as  one  after  another  goes,  it  may 
be  to  their  Father's  house  above,  and  to  sing 
with  heavenly  voices,  and  to  a  heavenly  harp, 
the  song  which  they  first  learned  from  you,  and 
with  you  often  sang  together  here — the  song 
of  Moses  and  the  Lamb.  And  if  you  be  taken, 
and  some  of  them  be  left,  see  to  it  that  you 
leave  them  the  thankful  assurance  that  you  are 
gone  to  their  Father,  and  your  Father,  their 
God,  and  your  God.  And,  in  the  meanwhile, 
let  your  united  worship  be  so  frequent  and  so 
fervent,  that  when  you  are  taken  from  their 
head,  the  one  whose  sad  office  it  is  to  supply 
your  place,  as  priest  of  that  household,  shall 
not  be  able  to  select  a  chapter  or  a  psalm,  with 
which  your  living  image  and  voice  are  not  as- 
sociated, and  in  which  you,  though  dead,  are 
yet  speaking  to  them.  And  thus  my  heart's 
wish  for  you  all, 

When  soon  or  late  you  reach  that  coast, 

O'er  life's  rough  ocean  driven ; 
May  you  rejoice,  no  wanderer  lost, 

A  family  in  heaven. 

National  Scotch  Church,  Regent-square, 
January  1st,  1842. 


THE 


DEW   OF   HERMON 


By  all  accounts  there  are  few  mountains 
drenched  in  more  copious  dew  than  Her- 
mon.  That  dew  is  Hermon's  "life."  It  wa- 
ters every  living  plant,  from  the  soft  bunches 
of  hyssop  and  the  little  cushions  of  scented 
thyme,  up  to  the  oak,  with  his  rugged  arms 
and  his  stiff  leaves  of  evergreen, — from  the 
lily  in  the  valley  to  the  lichen  on  the  rocky 
height.  It  waters  and  refreshes  them  all.  It 
has  no  effect  on  the  dust,  the  pebbles,  and  the 
lifeless  herbs  ;  but  wherever  there  is  life  it  gives 
that  life  more  abundantly, — so  abundantly  that 
no  one  grudges  the  other's  share.  The  lowly 
hyssop  does  not  envy  the  lofty  oak,  and  what 
fills  the  rose  cup  is  not  robbed  from  the  tiny 
moss.  When  that  dew  distils,  all  rejoice  to- 
gether, and  the  more  cause  one  has  for  rejoicing, 
the  more  cause  have  all.  Where  the  magazine 
of  supply  is  heaven,  there  is  no  room  for  envy ; 
10 


110  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

for  however  much  is  given  there  is  always 
more  to  give. 

The  dew  coming  down  on  Hermon  is  an 
emblem  of  the  Holy  Spirit  descending  on  a 
Church.  Wherever  he  comes  down  there  are 
freshness,  life,  and  beauty.  Every  living 
thing  revives,  and  the  more  one  gets  the  better 
it  is  for  all. 

But  there  were  more  hills  than  Hermon : 
Zion  lay  farther  south  and  so  stood  in  more 
need  of  the  distilling  dew.  And  Zion  also 
got  it.  The  dew  of  Hermon  descended  on 
the  mountains  of  Zion,  and  there  produced 
the  self-same  effects.  Zion  was  revived  and 
refreshed  as  Hermon  had  been.  Zion  and 
Hermon  were  far  asunder ;  but  they  were 
brethren,  and  the  Lord  commanded  the  same 
blessing  on  them  both ;  nor  did  Hermon  lose 
by  what  Zion  got. 

And  when  the  Psalmist  saw  this,  he  said, 
"Behold  how  good,  and  how  pleasant  it  is 
for  brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity !  A3 
the  dew  of  Hermon  that  descended  upon  the 
mountains  of  Zion  :  for  there  the  Lord  com- 
manded the  blessing,  even  life  for  evermore."* 

*  Psalm  cxxxiii.  In  the  authorized  version  a  few  words  are 
inserted  in  italics,  which  make  the  sense  somewhat  different. 
The  author  of  Helon's  Pilgrimage  applies  the  passage  very 
beautifully.  When  the  Pilgrims  from  Galilee  (where  Her- 
mon lay,)  are  entering  the  gate  of  Jerusalem  at  the  passover, 


THE    DEW  OF    HERMON.  Ill 

They  were  both  sacred  mountains,  both  within 
the  confines  of  the  holy  land  ;  but  they  were 
not  the  same.  Their  forms  were  different,  and 
different  productions  grew  on  each.  *  But  Her- 
mon  did  not  quarrel  with  Zion ;  nor  did  the 
vines  and  olives  of  Zion  grudge  that  the  oaks 
and  pasture  of  Hermon  were  enriched  with 
God's  full  flood  as  well  as  themselves.  It  were 
even  thus  if  believing  brethren  would  dwell  in 
unity.  There  is  enough  in  the  residue  of  the 
Spirit  to  enrich  and  revive  them  all. 

But  more  than  this.  Would  brethren  dwell 
in  unity,  the  same  dew  which  revives  and 
gladdens  Hermon  would  be  poured  out  on  the 
dry  ground  till  it  was  as  green  and  lovely 
as  that  hill  of  God.  When  believers  are  so 
filled  with  the  life-giving  and  love-diffusing 
Spirit  of  God,  as  to  realize  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit, — in  other  words,  when  they  are  one, — 
the  world  will  join  the  Church, — the  world  will 
in  its  turn  believe. 

That  the  unity  of  believers  and  the  conver- 
sion of  the  world  are  intimately  connected,  is 
evident  from  the  intercessory  prayer  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  That  the  unity  of  believers  and  the 
conversion  of  the  world  both  await  the  great 
New  Testament  promise,  the  full  outpouring  of 

he  addresses  the  words  to  them,  as  if  they  were  the  dew  of 
Hermon  coming  down  on  Zion. 

*  "  Unity  in  diversity,  and  diversity  in  unity,  is  a  law  of 
nature  and  also  of  the  Church." — D'Aubigne. 


112  THE    DEW    OF    HERM0N. 

the  Holy  Spirit,  is  evident  by  reading  that  prayer 
in  connexion  witli  the  discourse  that  pre- 
ceded it. 

THE    PROMISE. 

"  When  He  (the  Comforter)  is  come,  He  will 
reprove  the  world  of  sin,  and  of  righteousness, 
and  of  judgment :  of  sin,  because  they  believe 
not  on  me  ;  of  righteousness,  because  I  go  to 
my  Father,  and  ye  see  me  no  more  ;  of  judg- 
ment, because  the  prince  of  this  world  is 
judged."* 

THE    PRAYER. 

"  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them 
also  which  shall  believe  on  me  through  their 
word  ;  that  they  all  may  be  one  ;  as  thou,  Fa- 
ther, art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also 
may  be  one  in  us  :  that  the  world  may  believe 
that  thou  hast  sent  me.  And  the  glory  which 
thou  gavest  me  I  have  given  them,  that  they 
may  be  one,  even  as  we  are  one :  I  in  them, 
and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made  per- 
fect in  me  ;  and  that  the  world  may  know  that 
thou  hast  sent  me,  and  hast  loved  them,  as 
thou  hast  loved  me."t 

It  must  be  a  singular  blessing  which  the  Son 
of  God  implored  thus  earnestly,  and  on  the  ob- 
taining of  which  he  knew  that  such  mighty 
*  John  xvi.  8—11.  t  John  xviL  20— 2a. 


THE    DEW    OP    HERMON.  113 

results  depended.  Until  it  be  bestowed  the  joy  of 
the  Saviour  and  the  beauty  of  his  blood-bought 
Church  are  incomplete,  and  the  world's  con- 
version is  deferred.  .  And  as  they  can  have 
little  of  the  Master's  spirit  who  do  not  sympa- 
thize in  the  prayer  which,  when  his  hour  was 
come  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  to  heaven  and 
offered,  so  they  have  much  to  animate  their 
hopes,  their  exertions,  and  their  prayers,  who 
long  for  the  Church's  unity.  Each  prayer  of 
the  Divine  Redeemer  is  a  prophecy.  There 
are  omniscience  and  omnipotence  in  his  sup- 
plications ;  and  after  the  Great  Intercessor  has 
said  (as  here  he  says)  I  will,  all  that  is  want- 
ing to  the  answer  is  the  Amen  of  an  awakened 
and  sympathizing  Church.  Were  believers  to 
agree  as  touching  this  thing, — were  the  "  Even 
so"  of  strong  desire  and  consentaneous  prayer 
not  contradicted  by  opposing  practice,  the  fiat 
would  speedily  go  forth.  Whilst  we  were  yet 
speaking  God  would  answer ;  and  by  union 
in  prayer,  prepared  for  unity  in  faith  and  prac- 
tice, we  should  rise  from  our  knees  to  behold 
that  blessed  sight,  the  kingdoms  of  this  world 
becoming  the  kingdoms  of  our  God  and  his 
Christ.  Believers  would  be  one,  and  as  a  con- 
sequence the  world  would  believe. 

Taking  it  as  a  token  for  good  that  so  many 
thoughts  are  now  turned  towards  this  object, 
but  fearing  that  some  pray  for  it  who  "  know 
10* 


114  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

not  what  they  ask," — believing  too  that  it  will 
be  most  desired  by  those  who  understand  it 
best,  it  will  be  our  endeavour  first  of  all  to 
ascertain  what  that  "  oneness 'r  of  his  people  is 
for  which  the  Lord  Jesus  prayed  ;  and  then  we 
shall  perceive  more  clearly  the  likeliest  means 
of  securing  it. 

1.  It  is  a  union,  of  believers:  "I  pray  for 
them  which  shall  believe  on  me."  In  other 
words,  it  is  a  union  of  regenerate  men,*  It  is 
a  union  of  those  who  are  one  with  God :  "That 
they  may  be  one  in  us."  Believing  in  Jesus, 
or  peace  with  God,  is  the  basis  of  Christian 
unity. 

The  sinner  and  the  living  God  are  far 
asunder — as  widely  severed  as  the  love  of  holi- 
ness on  the  one  side  and  the  love  of  sin  on  the 
other  can  sunder  them.  The  careless  sinner 
is  as  remote  from  God  as  an  atheistic  spirit — 
as  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief  can  carry  him  :  and 
the  convinced  sinner  is  as  far  away  from  God 
as  the  guilty  misgivings  of  a  conscience  awake 
to  the  enormity  of  unpardoned  sin  can  keep 
him.  Hatred — carnal  enmity — keeps  the  un- 
awakened  sinner  standing  afar  off:  suspicion^ 
distrust,  keeps  the  anxious  sinner  nearly  as 
far.  And  it  is  not  till  the  Lord  Jesus,  the 
Peacemaker,  comes  and  lays  his  hand  of  con- 
ciliation and  love  on  the  sinner,  and  brings 
*  John  iii.  3,  9,  14,  15.     1  John  v.  I. 


THE    DEW    OF    HERMON.  115 

him  near  to  a  propitious  God,  that  the  last 
trace  of  the  hatred  disappears,  and  the  suspi- 
cion is  supplanted  by  confidence  and  joy. 
From  that  moment  forward  the  antagonism 
between  God  and  the  sinner  is  ended.  The 
controversy  of  many  a  guilty  year  is  succeeded 
by  a  covenant  of  everlasting  peace.  The  two 
walk  together,  because  they  are  agreed.  The 
sinner,  renewed  and  reconciled,  is  of  one  mind 
with  God— loves  the  same  things  which  God 
loves — seeks  the  same  end  which  God  also 
seeks,  even  God's  own  glory — and  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  dwelling  in  him,  he  now  dwells  in 
God.  In  this  sense  all  regenerate  men  are 
one  :  they  are  one  in  God.  Of  every  true  be- 
liever it  may  be  truly  said,  whether  he  dare  to 
say  it  of  himself  or  not,  "  Christ  liveth  in  him  : 
He  dwelleth  in  God." 

Now,  no  man  is  a  Christian  till  he  is  thus 
made  one  with  God.  If  he  be  thus  made  one 
with  God,  he  is  a  Christian,  though  some  cir- 
cumstance should  hinder  him  from  joining  any 
Church  on  earth  ;  and  if  he  be  not  thus  made 
one  with  God,  he  may  join  the  purest  and  most 
scriptural  Church  on  earth,  and  not  be  a  Chris- 
tian after  all.  The  Church  of  the  living  God 
consists  of  regenerate  men.  A  carnal  man  in 
a  spiritual  Church  is  carnal  still :  a  spiritual 
man  in  a  corrupt  Church  is  spiritual  still.  He 
is  the  citizen  of  Zion — not  who  dwells  within 


116  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

the  stone  walls  of  any  earthly  sanctuary 
— not  who  dwelleth  with  any  sect  or  party 
here — but  who  dwelleth  in  God  and  God  in 
him.  All  such  men  are  actually  one.  In  hea- 
ven all  such  men  are  visibly  one  ;  and  it 
would  be  best  for  the  world  if  even  on  earth 
all  such  men  were  ostensibly  as  well  as  virtu- 
ally one. 

The  union  for  which  the  Lord  Jesus  prayed 
was,  a  union  of  spiritual  men — a  union  not  of 
mere  professors,  but  of  his  true  disciples — a 
union  in  the  Lord — in  us.  Any  other  union 
is  little  worth — a  union  of  professors  with  pro- 
fessors— of  one  dead  Church  with  another  dead 
Church — is  but  a  filling  of  the  charnel-house, 
a  heaping  of  the  compost-pile.  A  union  of 
dead  professors  with  living  saints,  this  union 
of  life  and  death,  is  but  to  pour  the  green  and 
putrid  water  of  the  stagnant  pool  into  the  living 
spring.  It  is  not  to  graft  new  branches  into 
the  goodly  vine,  but  to  bandage  on  dead  boughs 
that  will  but  deform  it.  It  is  not  to  gather 
new  wheat  into  the  garner,  but  to  blend  the 
wheat  and  chaff  again  together.  It  is  not  to 
gather  new  sheep  into  the  fold,  but  it  is  to  bor- 
row the  shepherd's  brand  and  imprint  it  on  the 
dogs  and  wolves  and  call  them  sheep.  The 
identifying  of  christened  pagans  with  the  pecu- 
liar people,  has  done  much  dishonour  to  the 
Redeemer,  has  deluded  many  souls,  and  made 


THE    DEW    OF    HERMON.  117 

it  much  more  difficult  for  the  Church  to  con- 
vince the  world. 

It  was  not  this  amalgamation  of  the  Church 
and  the  world  which  the  Saviour  contemplated 
when  he  prayed  for  his  people's  unity.  It  was 
a  union  of  spiritual  men — a  holy  unity — 
springing  from  oneness  with  himself.  Union 
with  Christ  is  an  indispensable  preliminary  to 
union  with  the  Church  of  Christ.  An  indi- 
vidual must  be  joined  to  Christ  before  he  can 
be  a  true  member  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 
And  those  individuals  and  those  Churches 
which  are  the  most  closely  joined  to  Christ,  are 
the  nearest  to  one  another,  and  will  be  the  first 
to  coalesce  in  fulfilment  of  Christ's  prayer, 
"  May  they  all  be  one." 

The  more  faith  there  is  in  the  earth,  the 
more  foundation  is  there  for  Christian  unity. 
But  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  author  of  faith.  It 
is  he  who  reveals  Jesus  and  glorifies  him 
(John  xvi.  14.)  It  is  he  who  unites  the  soul  to 
Christ.  It  is  he  alone  who  can  fill  Churches  with 
living  members,  that  is,  with  the  elements  of 
Christian  unity. 

2.  It  is  an  orthodox  union.  Any  price  is  too 
little  to  pay  for  such  a  blessing,  except  the 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.  This  we 
must  not  sell ;  and.  happily,  there  is  no  need. 
"  When  he,  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  is  come,  he 
will  guide  you  into  all  truth."     The  author 


118  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

of  unity  is  the  Spirit  of  Truth  ;  and  it  is  by- 
causing  believers  to  see  eye  to  eye,  that  he  will 
join  them  heart  to  heart.  It  cannot  be  a  close 
and  healthful  union  which  includes  an  error 
or  rejects  a  truth.  And,  taking  it  for  granted 
that  all  which  God  has  been  pleased  to  reveal 
it  is  possible  to  ascertain,  and  that  all  which 
we  ascertain  we  are  bound  to  believe,  if  asked, 
On  what  platform  the  Church  is  likely  at  last 
to  unite  ?  we  answer,  On  the  platform  of  ortho- 
doxy. It  is  pride  which  perpetuates  error. 
The  wars  and  fightings  and  false  doctrines  of 
Christian  men  have  one  parentage  ;  they  come 
from  their  remaining  "lusts."*  These  lusts 
no  power  can  subdue,  except  the  Omnipotent 
Spirit.  He  alone  can  annihilate  pride  and 
pugnacity,  and  make  men  so  earnest  and 
docile  that  they  will  freely  part  with  long- 
cherished  error,  and  accept,  meekly  and  joy- 
fully, long-rejected  truth.  And  when  he  has 
given  the  Lord's  people  a  quiet  and  weaned 
spirit,  he  will  secure  a  frank  and  cheerful  ad- 
mission for  every  truth  which  the  Word  of  God 
contains.  There  will  be  no  triumph  of  parti- 
sanship, and  no  humiliation  in  concession, 
when  each  feels  that  it  is  not  human  might  nor 
power,  but  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  which  is  win- 
ning truth's  victory  over  error.  The  latitudina- 
rian  unity  which  surrenders  truth  for  peace,  and 

*  James  i.  21 ;  jr.  1. 


THE    DEW   OF    HERMON.  119 

purity  for  quiet,  is  not  the  unity  for  which  the 
Saviour  prayed.  Truth  and  love,  purity  and 
peace,  are  each  such  a  blessing,  that  he  designs 
that  his  Church  should  enjoy  them  all :  and 
when  the  residue  of  the  Spirit  is  bestowed, 
they  will  be  one  and  all  vouchsafed.  Far 
from  fancying  that  the  creed  of  a  united 
Church  will  be  that  scantling  of  truth  which 
remains  after  every  man  has  subtracted  the 
doctrines  against  which  he  entertains  a  preju- 
dice, we  are  assured  that  the  eventual  confes- 
sion of  the  Church's  faith  will  be  more  exact 
and  comprehensive  than  any  existing  standard, 
for  it  will  include  the  entire  revelation  of  God. 
It  will  contain  as  many  articles  as  there  are 
texts  in  Scripture.  It  will  be  the  Bible  under- 
stood according  to  the  mind  of  him  who  gave 
it :  the  Bible  read  with  the  inspiring  Spirit  for 
the  infallible  interpreter.  When  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  lifts  up  that  standard,  and  displays  it 
to  believing  eyes,  he  will  make  it  the  rallying- 
point  of  a  re-uniting  Church.  Led  into  all 
truth,  and  sanctified  through  the  truth,  believers 
will  be  one. 

3.  It  is  a  union  resulting  from  individual 
believers  becoming  eminently  like  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  himself.  "  The  glory  which  thou  gavest 
me,  I  have  given  them  ;  that  they  may  be 
one."  On  which  wonderful  wTords  you  find  a 
comment  in  2  Cor.  iii.  17 :  "  We  all  with  open 


120  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

face  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  are  changed  into  the  same  image  from 
glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord."  The  man  who  eyes  Immanuel  most 
eagerly  and  stedfastly — the  man  who  by  the  Spi- 
rit is  transformed  into  the  closest  resemblance  to 
the  Son  of  God,  is  the  man  most  prepared  to 
repeat  and  fulfil  this  prayer.  The  most  Christ- 
like Christian  is  the  most  truly  catholic :  his 
love  comprehends  all  saints.  One  glory  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  was  his  patience.  The  dulness  of 
disciples  was  wearisome  :  to  most  of  us  it  would 
have  been  provoking ;  but  it  did  not  disgust 
nor  irritate  their  Master.  They  were  slow  to 
understand  ;  but  their  Teacher  was  the  Lamb 
of  God.  They  were  dull ;  but  he  was  gentle 
and  patient,  and  took  infinite  pains  with  them. 
He  knew  that  they  loved  him,  and  that  they 
believed  him  ;  so  he  bore  with  much  carnality, 
much  obtuseness,  and  many  misconceptions. 
He  rather  thought  of  what  they  were  yet  to  be, 
than  of  what  they  already  were  ;  and  by  the 
pains  he  took  with  them,  he  made  them  what 
he  wished  them  to  be.  They  showed  much 
bigotry.  They  marvelled  when  he  talked  with 
a  Samaritan  woman.*  It  was  his  meat  and 
drink  to  do  such  things  ;  and  in  the  conversion 
of  that  woman  and  many  of  her  fellow-towns- 
men, he  gave  them  an  affecting  reason  for 
*  John  iv.  27. 


THE    DEW    OF    HERMON.  121 

talking  with  Samaritans.  They  showed  griev- 
oue  sectarianism.  They  would  rather  that  a 
man  should  be  possessed  by  the  devil,  than  that 
one  not  belonging  to  their  own  company  should 
cure  him  :  "  We  forbad  him,  because  he  fol- 
loweth  not  with  us."*  They  could  not  say 
that  he  was  not  a  follower,  for  they  had  heard 
him  use  their  Master's  name  ;  but  he  followed 
not  with  them.  The  Saviour  rejoiced  to  hear 
that  devils  were  cast  out,  and  that  this  man 
had  faith  to  do  it  in  Christ's  name  ;  and  so  he 
taught  the  disciples  that  there  was  something 
more  important  still  than  following  with  them. 
They  often  exhibited  painful  infirmity  and  in- 
consistency ;  but  he  had  called  and  chosen 
them,  and  they  were  his  friends,  so  he  did  not 
cast  them  off. 

And  such  was  the  effect  of  intercourse  with 
himself— beholding  his  glory  and  drinking  of  his 
Spirit — such  was  the  result  of  his  perseverance 
and  affectionate  pains-taking,  that  in  patience 
and  magnanimity  and  largeness  of  soul  they  at 
last  became  wonderfully  like  to  their  Master. 
What  was  his  own  glory  was  transferred  to 
them.  And  when  more  of  Christ's  glory  is 
given  to  the  Church — when  believers  become 
more  Christ-like,  they  will  become  not  more 
tolerant  of  error,  but  more  tolerant  of  one  another. 
They  will  feel  such  compassion  for  a  world 
*  Luke  ix.  49. 
11 


122  '      THE    DEW   OF   HERMON. 

possessed  by  the  devil,  that  they  will  rejoice 
when  they  hear  that  any  is  loosed  from  Satan's 
bond,  whoever  spoke  the  word.  They  will  feel 
such  concern  for  their  Master's  honor,  as  will 
make  them  forget  their  own  prerogative.  The 
name  of  Jesus  will  be  so  dear  to  them,  that 
they  wrill  be  glad  to  hear  it  coming  from  any 
lips,  and  to  find  it  working  signs,  even  though 
a  stranger  use  it.  The  great  desire  will  be, 
not  that  particular  Churches  should  increase, 
or  particular  congregations  should  increase,  so 
much  as  that  Christ  should  increase.  And  if 
go  be  that  he  is  preached,  whether  it  be  by  un- 
amiable  and  contentious  men,  or  by  loving  and 
consistent  disciples,  notwithstanding,  every  way 
they  will  rejoice.*  Such  believers  there  have 
already  been ;  men  in  whom  the  love  of  Jesus 
swallowed  up  every  sordid  and  selfish  feeling. 
Were  they  but  multiplied  till  our  Churches 
contained  no  other  members,  the  day  for  heal- 
ing our  divisions  would  not  be  distant.  Car- 
nality is  the  great  source  of  religious  conten- 
tions ;  and  the  great  subduer  of  carnality  is  the 
sanctifying  Spirit.  Jesus  is  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
and  the  sanctifying  Spirit  glorifies  Jesus  by  re- 
ceiving of  his.  and  showing  it — transferring  it — 
to  his  disciples.t  It  is  he  who,  changing  them 
into  the  same  image,  can  make  them  the  sons 
of  peace. 

*  Phil.  i.  15—18.  t  John  xvi.  14. 


THE    DEW  OF    HERMON.  123 

4.  But  we  must  go  farther,  and  add  that  ex- 
cept in  one  brief  earnest  at  the  beginning,  and 
a  few  local  and  partial  vouch safements  since, 
this  prayer  of  the  Saviour  has  not  been  fully 
answered  yet.  When  the  early  rain  of  the 
Spirit  was  given,  there  was  a  momentary  fore- 
taste of  what  shall  yet  be  seen,  on  a  scale 
vastly  more  magnificent  and  permanent.  "  And 
when  they  had  prayed,  the  place  was  shaken 
where  they  were  assembled  together,  and  they 
were  all  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  and  they 
spake  the  word  of  God  with  boldness.  And 
the  multitude  of  them  that  believed  were  of 
one  heart  and  of  one  soul :  neither  said  any 
of  them  that  ought  of  the  things  which  he 
possessed  was  his  own  ;  but  they  had  all  things 
common.  And  with  great  power  gave  the 
apostles  wit?iess  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  ;  and  great  grace  was  upon  them 
allP*  Here  great  grace  and  great  power  were 
the  accompaniments  of  unity.  Grace,  power, 
and  unity  all  came  together,  and  all  came  from 
the  singular  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The 
prayer  of  the  Saviour  was  for  that  instant  an- 
swered ;  his  people  for  the  time  wTere  one ;  and 
the  impression  on  the  world  was  great.  But 
that  oneness  of  the  primitive  Church  wTas  only 
a  moment's  sun-blink.  It  ceased  long  before 
the  apostles  died.  When  Paul  parted  from 
*  Acts  iv.  31—33. 


124  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

Barnabas,*  and  when  Peter  was  rebuked  be- 
cause he  was  to  be  blamed,!  there  were  symp- 
toms of  the  Great  Comforter  departing.  And 
any  one  who  reads  the  Epistles  to  the  Corin- 
thians and  Galatians,  and  to  the  Seven  Churches 
of  Asia,  will  see  painful  indications  that  the 
disciples  had  long  since  ceased  to  be  of  "  one 
heart  and  one  soul."  Many  think  that  if  they 
could  only  get  the  Church  back  to  the  primitive 
model,  Christ's  prayer  would  be  answered.  We 
cannot  think  so.  Unless  by  the  jjrimitive^  they 
mean  the  pentecostal  model,  something  would 
be  desiderated  before  the  Church  became  what 
the  Church  should  be ; — before  it  coalesced  in 
such  identity  of  spirit  and  amalgamation  of 
love,  that  disciples  could  be  said  all  to  be  one, 
even  as  Christ  and  the  Father  are  one.  Read 
the  following  extracts  from  apostolic  epistles, 
and  say  if  you  would  not  desire  some  greater 
unity  for  a  Church  that  is  to  convert  the  world. 
"  Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  name  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  ye  all  speak  the 
same  thing,  and  that  there  be  no  divisions  (or 
schisms)  among  you  ;  but  that  ye  be  perfectly 
joined  together  in  the  same  mind  and  in  the 
same  judgment.  For  it  hath  been  declared 
unto  me  of  you,  my  brethren,  by  them  which 
are  of  the  house  of  Chloe,  that  there  are  con- 
tentions among  you.  Now  this  I  say,  that 
*  Acts  xv.  39.  t  Gal.  ii.  11—14. 


THE    DEW    OF    HERAtC    .  125 

every  one  of  you  saith,  I  am  of  Paul;  and  I 
of  Cephas ;  and  I  of  Christ."*  "  I  wrote  unto 
the  Church  ;  but  Diotrephes,  who  loveth  to 
have  the  pre-eminence  among  them,  receiveth 
us  not.  Wherefore,  if  I  come,  I  will  remember 
his  deeds  which  he  doeth,  prating  against  us 
with  malicious  words ;  and  not  content  there- 
with, neither  doth  he  himself  receive  the  bre- 
thren, and  forbiddeth  them  that  would,  and 
casteth  them  out  of  the  Church."t 

In  the  days  of  the  apostles  there  was  little  or 
no  dissent — little  or  no  secession — but  still  there 
was  not  unity ;  disciples  were  not  sufficiently 
one  to  convert  the  world.  With  the  litigious 
Corinthians  and  the  Judaizing  Galatians,  with 
pragmatical  teachers  like  Diotrephes,  and  osten- 
tatious preachers  like  those  who  thought  to  add 
affliction  to  the  apostle's  bonds,  Paul  and  John 
had  as  much  reason  to  sigh  after  true  Christian 
unity  as  any  faithful  minister  or  Christian  now. 
When  Paul  wrote  those  tremulous  entreaties, 
agonizingly  imploring  his  own  converts,  "If 
there  be  any  consolation  in  Christ,  if  any  com- 
fort of  love,  if  any  fellowship  of  the  Spirit,  if 
any  bowels  and  mercies, — fulfil  ye  my  joy,  that 
ye  be  like-minded,  having  the  same  love,  being 
of  one  accord,  of  one  mind.  Let  nothing  be 
done  through  strife  or  vain  glory :"  and  when 
John  penned  those  epistles,  with  love  and  heal- 
*  1  Cor.  i.  10—12.  t  3  John  9,  10. 

11* 


126  THE    DEW    OF   HERMON. 

ing  flowing  along  each  line,  it  is  too  evident  in 
the  reluctant  allusion  to  divisions  which  darkens 
even  his  bright  pages,  that  these  works  of  the 
flesh  were  not  unknown  among  the  Churches 
which  had  been  planted  and  tended  by  the 
gentlest  of  apostolic  hands.  When  we  look 
back  on  the  primitive  Church,  we  dare  not  say 
that,  except  during  the  brief  hour  of  its  Pente- 
costal prime,  it  came  up  to  the  Lord's  behest 
when  he  prayed  for  its  unity, — for  there  were 
not  many  Churches  even  then,  which  could 
give  the  heathen  cause  to  say,  "  Behold  how 
these  Christians  love  one  another."  A  Church 
truly  one — a  unanimous  cordial  company,  free 
from  selfishness  and  indivisible — not  packed  in- 
to the  mere"  shell  of  outside  uniformity,  nor  con- 
stricted into  uneasy  and  precarious  juxtaposi- 
tion by  the  green  withs  of  a  temporary  and 
self-suggested  expediency — but  gravitating  to- 
wards each  other  by  the  polarization  of  truth 
and  love ;  such  a  united,  world-converting  and 
God-glorifying  Church,  we  believe  to  be  the 
glory  of  the  latter  day,  and  the  crowning 
achievement  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

One  good  purpose  will  be  answered,  if  these 
remarks  shew  what  is  not  Christian  unity. 

Mere  denominational  uniformity  is  not  Chris- 
tian unity.  It  is  a  favourite  project  with  many 
in  the  present  day  to  single  out  some  sect — 
usually  their  own — and  then  say  tc  themselves, 


THE    DEW  OP    HERMON.  127 

"  If  we  could  only  get  all  the  world  to  join  us, 
there  would  be  unity."  And  so  possessed  are 
they  with  the  notion  that  the  unity  of  the 
Church  consists  in  conformity  to  them,  that 
many  of  them  have  determined  to  know  no- 
thing among  men,  save  their  Church  (meaning 
their  own  community,)  and  conformity  thereto. 
Their  union  is  separation  from  non-canonical 
Christians  ;  and  could  they  but  make  one  font, 
one  surplice,  and  one  service-book  for  all,  they 
are  persuaded  the  Church  would  be  one.  In 
place  of  unity  of  spirit,  they  labour  for  unity 
of  costume.  They  cannot  understand  a  united 
family  which  does  not  wear  a  regimental  uni- 
form. We,  on  the  other  hand,  have  seen  an 
uniformity  where  there  was  nothing  but  the 
form.  The  Church  of  the  middle  ages  was 
united,  just  as  the  sleepers  in  the  funeral  vault 
are  united,  in  the  tranquillity  of  death.  It  was 
like  listening  at  the  door  of  a  sepulchre  :  Hush  ! 
for  all  is  peace  within.  Enter,  and  all  is  uni- 
form— uniformly  dead — black  frieze  and  rot- 
tenness— a  sepulchre  of  souls.  The  Church 
of  the  early  centuries  was  united,  as  scorpions 
are  united  when  one  glass  receiver  holds  them 
and  leaves  them  room  to  fret  about,  and  strike 
their  stings  into  one  another.  There  was  uni- 
formity, but  it  was  not  unity,  for  the  world  did 
not  believe.  The  world  saw  it  and  was  hard- 
ened ;  the  world  saw  it  and  blasphemed.     To 


128  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

preserve  the  unity  of  the  Church  they  excom- 
municated or  burned  alive  those  who  thought 
or  believed  for  themselves  ;  till  faith  had  well 
nigh  perished  from  the  earth.  The  Church 
became  so  catholic,  that  there  was  no  place 
found  for  the  Gospel.  The  union  of  coercion, 
or  the  union  which  as  the  first  term  of  com- 
munion takes  away  your  right  of  private  judg- 
ment, is  not  the  union  contemplated  by  Him, 
the  first  law  of  whose  kingdom  is  love,  and  the 
first  gift  of  whose  Spirit  is  light. 

Again.  For  the  sake  of  unity,  it  is  not  need- 
ful to  surrender  an  iota  of  the  truth,  or  yield 
one  conscientious  conviction,  so  long  as  it  re- 
mains conscientious.  It  is  very  common  with 
those  who  misunderstand  the  matter,  to  say, 
"  Come,  now,  you  and  I  do  not  think  exactly 
alike  ;  perhaps  we  are  both  right,  and  it  is  as 
likely  we  are  both  wrong.  But  it  is  a  point  of 
no  moment ;  what  would  you  say  to  throw  it 
overboard  altogether,  and  give  ourselves  no 
more  concern  about  it  ?"  To  which,  in  many 
cases,  it  might  be  a  very  just  answer — "  You 
may  intend  this  for  liberality,  but  to  me  it 
sounds  like  latitudinarianism.  I  believe  that  I 
found  this  truth  in  the  Bible ;  and  if  so,  it  is 
one  of  the  truths  of  God.  I  dare  not  cast  it 
overboard  ;  and  I  shall  be  very  sorry  if  having 
it  on  board  deprive  me  of  your  company.  If 
it  be  so  offensive  to  you  that  you  must  needs 


THE    DEW    OF    HERMON.  129 

sail  in  a  separate  ship,  I  hope  we  shall  not 
hoist  hostile  flags.  But  as  neither  of  us  holds 
xit  vital,  might  we  not  agree  to  differ  regarding 
it ;  and  as  we  grow  in  knowledge  and  in 
grace,  may  we  not  hope  that  the  Lord  will 
reveal  even  this  unto  us?"  Wherever  souls 
are  joined  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  his  image  is 
visible  upon  them,  there  is  actual  unity  of  the 
most  important  kind.  Were  this  actual  unity 
more  frequently  made  the  foundation  of  a  prac- 
tical unity,  there  would  soon  be  more  doctrinal 
unity  among  Christians.  But  it  is  an  unhal- 
lowed mode  of  procuring  practical  unity  to  pur- 
chase it  at  the  price  of  truth.  As  a  compromise 
of  error  cannot  lead  to  unity,  so  "  truth  in  love" 
will  breed  no  schism. 

Christian  unity  is  the  union  of  believers — 
union  in  the  truth — union  in  the  Lord.  Like 
every  good  and  perfect  gift,  it  cometh  down 
from  the  Father  of  Lights.  It  is  given  where 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  given.  Where  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  is,  there  is  love  as  well  as  liberty. 
This  suggests  as  the  first  and  main  step  towards 
the  attaiment  of  the  blessing. 

1.  Prayer  for  the  larger  effusion  of  the  Spirit 
on  the  Churches.  Something  like  a  visible 
unity  has  already  been  witnessed  when  be- 
lievers throughout  the  world  agreed  to  make 
request  for  a  common  cause.  This  was  to  some 
extent  the  case  in  a  union  for  prayer  widely 


130  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

observed  last  autumn.  It  was  kept  by  some 
Christians  of  almost  every  communion  and 
every  clime  ;  and  for  the  time  being  they  were 
one.  One  Spirit  of  Supplication  taught  them  ; 
one  common  object  drew  them  ;  one  mind  and 
heart  were  given  them.  For  the  moment  they 
were  one.  And  there  have  since  been  evident 
signs  that  God  did  not  turn  away  that  prayer 
from  Him.  He  has  enlarged  the  coasts  of  some 
and  the  hearts  of  others.  A  few  agreed  as 
touching  the  thing  which  they  asked,  and  par- 
tial though  the  union  was,  the  answer  has  at 
least  sufficed  to  shew,  "  Ye  have  not  because 
ye  ask  not." 

During  a  revival  of  religion,  it  is  so  natural 
for  disciples  to  love  one  another,  that  "  church 
order"  is  frequently  invaded,  and  denomina- 
tional distinctions  are  forgotten  in  the  affection- 
ate freedom  of  Christian  intercourse.  During 
the  awakening  at  Cambuslang  (1742,)  Whit- 
field "was  an  angel  of  God"  to  the  people  ;  and 
when  the  revival  at  Moulin  occurred  (1798,) 
no  preacher  was  more  prized  by  the  minister 
and  his  people  than  Mr.  Simeon  of  Cambridge. 
Their  feet  were  beautiful  in  the  eyes  of  Pres- 
byterian people,  because  they  brought  good 
tidings,  and  the  Churchman  was  merged  in 
the  minister  of  Christ.  And  though  it  were 
for  no  other  reason,  a  revival  of  religion  should 
be  sought  because  it  would  make  it  natural 


THE    DEW    OP    HERMON,  131 

and  safe  for  ministers  and  people  of  different 
persuasions  to  hold  fellowship  with  one  another. 
To  render  our  intercourse  generous  and  con- 
fiding, unembarrassed  and  affectionate,  needs 
the  same  power  which  gave  "  the  multitude  of 
them  that  believed"  in  early  days  "one  heart 
and  one  soul."  That  power  was  the  Holy 
Ghost  with  whom  they  "  all  were  filled  ;"  and 
he  was  given  in  answer  to  prayer,  "  when  they 
had  lifted  up  their  voice  with  one  accord."* 
Would  the  multitude  of  believers  now  lift  up 
their  voice  with  like  unanimity  and  earnest- 
ness, the  promise  of  the  Father  which  we  heard 
from  Jesus  would  be  the  answer  to  the  prayer. 
The  Holy  Ghost  would  be  given  :  harmony  at 
home  and  power  abroad  would  be  given.  The 
world  could  not  stand  before  the  great  boldness 
and  great  grace  of  those  whom  God  had  joined 
together ;  and  as  the  Church's  unity  would  re- 
move the  great  obstacle  to  the  world's  conver- 
sion, the  world's  conversion  would  remove  the 
great  source  of  divisions  in  the  Church.  Of- 
fences in  the  Church  usually  enter  from  the 
world.  Did  the  Church  possess  the  world,  these 
offences  would  cease.  The  world  one  with  the 
Church,  and  both  one  with  God,  the  work  of 
the  Comforter  would  be  complete, — "  the  prince 
of  this  world  would  be  judged,"  condemned, 
dethroned. 

*  Acts  iv.  24,  31. 


132  THE    DEW   OF    HERMON. 

2.  If  unity  be  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  let  those 
believers  who  long  for  unity  beware  of  grieving 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  He  is  grieved  by  car- 
nal contention  :  he  is  grieved  by  those  works 
of  the  flesh,  "  hatred,  variance,  emulations, 
wrath,  strife,  seditions,  heresies,  envyings  :"* 
he  is  grieved  when  we  offend  one  of  Christ's 
little  ones:  he  is  grieved  when  we  seek  the 
things  of  our  own  party  more  than  the  things 
of  Jesus  Christ :  and  he  is  grieved  when  we 
pray  for  unity,  and  do  not  cultivate  a  kind  and 
fraternal  spirit. 

3.  In  order  to  attain  this  spirit,  let  us  think 
how  the  Saviour  feels  towards  all  the  members 
of  his  body.  The  Church  of  Christ  looks  very 
different  contemplated  from  the  same  point  of 
view  from  which  the  Son  of  God  surveyed  it, 
when  beneath  the  cross  with  yearning  heart  he 
prayed  for  it,  or  viewed  by  the  sectarian  from  the 
lonely  pinnacle  of  his  frosty  partisanship.  If  we 
have  the  mind  of  Christ,  why  do  we  not  feel 
toward  his  blood-bought  Church  as  he  himself 
feels  towards  it  ?  Why  is  it  not  all  precious 
to  us,  when  his  precious  blood  is  on  it  all? 
Each  redeemed  and  regenerate  man  is  dear  to 
the  Saviour  :  can  we  not  find  room  in  our 
hearts  for  all  ?  If  they  be  not  all  exactly  to 
our  liking,  let  us  remember  that  Christ  bears 
with  them.     If  they  belong  to  a  denomination 

*  Gal.  v.  17,  20,  21. 


THE    DEW    OF    HERMON.  133 

which  we  cannot  approve,  let  us  remember  that 
the  stiffest  sectary  will  change  his  denomina- 
tion the  day  he  joins  the  Church  of  the  first- 
born above  ;  and  that  even  we  ourselves  may 
see  some  things  differently  then.  And  if  we 
cannot  love  them  as  they  are,  let  us  love  them 
as  they  are  yet  to  be.  The  most  shining  saint 
on  earth  is  not  so  holy  nor  so  beautiful  as  the 
least  attractive  Christian  will  become  the  mo- 
ment his  corruption  puts  on  incorruption. 

4.  Let  us  study  the  internal  history  of  the 
Church,  i.  e.  the  history  of  vital  religion,  and 
we  shall  find  that  God  has  greatly  owned 
other  Churches  besides  that  of  which  ourselves 
are  members.  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  not 
straitened  as  the  Lord's  people  too  often  are ; 
consequently,  the  history  of  real  religion  during 
these  last  ages  is  the  history  of  many  Churches. 
Christians,  if  they  were  eminently  devout  and 
heavenly-minded,  look  wonderfully  like  one 
another  when  the  story  of  their  hidden  life  is 
told.  When  you  read  the  biographies  of  Brai- 
nerd  and  Martyn  and  Carey,  you  do  not  think 
of  the  one  as  a  Presbyterian,  and  of  the  other 
as  an  Episcopalian,  and  of  the  third  as  a  Bap- 
tist ;  but  you  think  of  them  all  as  good  soldiers 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  men  whom  their  Lord  de- 
lighted to  honour.  When  you  read  of  the  glori- 
ous revivals  last  century  in  Britain  and  America, 
you  scarce  ever  ask  to  what  party  did  Daniel 
12 


134  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

Rowland  and  George  Whitfield,  John  Living- 
stone and  President  Edwards  belong.  Would 
you  throw  aside  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  be- 
cause you  had  found  out  that  a  Baptist  wrote  it  1 
Or,  in  the  midst  of  some  noble  hymn,  would  your 
voice  at  once  grow  mute  because  on  turning 
the  leaf  you  found  that  this  good  matter 
had  been  originally  indited  by  a  Noncon- 
formist or  a  Methodist  ? 

5.  Let  us  remember  how  important  are  the 
points  on  which  believers  agree  with  one 
another,  and  in  which  they  differ  from  the 
world.  Think  what  is  it  that  makes  a  Chris- 
tian. It  is  not  his  belonging  to  any  Church 
on  earth,  but  his  "  belonging  unto  Christ."  It 
is  not  our  badge  upon  his  shoulder,  but  Christ's 
image  on  his  soul.  It  is  not  his  believing  the 
divine  warrant  of  any  ecclesiastical  polity,  but 
it  is  his  believing  in  the  Saviour  himself.  It  is 
not  his  dwelling  in  our  tabernacle,  but  it  is  the 
Spirit  of  God  dwelling  in  him  that  makes  him 
a  Christian  indeed.  Compared  with  these 
great  realities,  how  insignificant  the  points  in 
which  believers  disagree  !  and  how  very  differ- 
ent from  the  world  the  weakest  and  most  incon- 
sistent saint ! 

6.  Let  us  cultivate  a  friendly  intercourse 
with  sister  Churches.  It  is  our  shyness  which 
produces  so  much  estrangement.  We  would 
think  more  highly  of  one  another,  if  we  knew 


THE    DEW    OF    HERMON.  135 

one  another  better.  If  you  were  ever  transported 
to  a  new  district  of  country,  you  remember 
how  cold  and  unfriendly  it  looked,  simply  be- 
cause it  was  strange.  Now  that  you  have 
been  some  years  in  the  district,  you  can  hardly 
recall  or  believe  the  shy  and  suspicious  feelings 
with  which  you  viewed  it  at  first.  Here  is  a 
cottage  where  scarce  a  winter  night  goes  by 
but  you  are  a  visitor  ;  and  yet  the  first  time 
you  went  that  way  you  felt  a  prejudice  against 
it — you  did  not  like  its  looks — you  thought  the 
inhabitants  were  curious- looking  people — and 
congratulated  yourself  that  you  were  indepen- 
dent of  them,  for  you  were  sure  you  could 
never  take  to  them.  But  somehow  you  got 
acquainted  ;  you  found  that  they  were  more 
amiable  and  interesting  than  you  had  expected. 
The  good-man  of  the  house,  whom  you  did  not 
like  at  all  the  first  time  you  saw  him,  is  now 
your  particular  friend ;  and  those  children, 
whom  you  thought  so  oddly  dressed  that  you 
could  not  bear  them,  you  are  never  so  happy 
now  as  when  you  have  them  all  clinging  about 
your  chair  and  climbing  on  your  shoulders.  A 
well  shut  up,  a  fountain  sealed  ;  you  have 
found  a  spring  of  unsuspected  gladness  and 
refreshment,  in  that  uncouth  habitation  and  its 
grotesque-looking  inmates.  Perhaps,  were  you 
building  a  house  for  yourself,  you  might  not 
choose  to  copy  all  its  fantastic  ornaments  and 


136  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

peculiar  arrangements  ;  nor  might  you  be  dis- 
posed to  array  your  household  in  the  peculiar 
uniform  which  they  have  chosen  to  wear :  but 
still  you  are  thankful  that  you  got  acquainted 
with  these  people,  and  that  here  is  a  door 
whose  latch  you  may  lift  without  knocking 
any  day,  and  step  in  and  find  a  welcome  and 
pleasant  fellowship,  kind  hearts,  and  congenial 
converse. 

The  recluse  who  never  darkens  his  neigh 
hour's  door,  nor  lets  his  neighbour  darken  his, 
will  look  coldly  on  all  the  region  round  about. 
"When  he  looks  out  on  the  adjacent  dwellings, 
he  will  think  more  of  the  masonry  outside  than 
of  the  furnishing  within.  His  landscape  will 
be  a  cold  panorama  of  brick  and  tile,  of  stones 
and  mortar ;  without  living  souls,  without  bright 
intellects  and  warm  hearts  to  people  them.  And 
the  stranger  will  feel  much  like  the  recluse  :  it 
is  the  masonry  that  meets  his  eye  and  decides 
his  judgment :  the  inhabitants  are  all  one,  for 
they  all  are  strange.  But  a  neighbourly  man, 
who  has  lived  a  long  time  in  the  region,  and 
been  making  his  friendly  entries  from  door  to 
door,  with  him  the  cold  and  alien  feeling  has 
worn  off  long  since  ;  and  when  he  looks  at 
houses,  he  is  not  looking  at  blue  slates  and  red 
tiles,  but  houses  richly  tinted  with  those  warm 
life-hues,  that  fire-light  colouring  of  peace,  and 
love,  and  joy,  which  he  has  seen  within  ;  and 


THE    DEW    OF    HERMON.  137 

if  he  wished  to  bespeak  the  stranger's  Interest 
in  all,  he  could  point  out  the  peculiar  trait  of 
excellence  in  each.  "  Yon  bleak-looking  house 
contains  the  most  united  family  I  ever  saw :  it 
would  do  your  heart  good  to  see  their  mutual 
affection.  Yon  other  house  is  a  pattern  of  good 
order  and  skilful  arrangement.  And  yonder  is 
a  family  to  which  the  whole  parish  is  beholden 
for  their  ready-handed  liberality,  their  visits  of 
mercy,  and  offices  of  tender  sympathy.  The 
people  of  this  house  are  remarkable  for  walking 
in  all  the  ordinances  blameless  ;  so  strict,  that 
some  would  call  them  stern.  And  in  yon  other 
habitation  there  is  more  of  joy  and  praise  than 
I  ever  found  elsewhere.  It  is  thawing,  heart- 
kindling  to  be  with  them  :  it  seems  to  me  as 
if  the  very  house  were  singing — smiling — glad. 
I  have  learned  a  lesson  from  every  one  :  I  see 
that  wholesome  discipline  and  good  govern- 
ment are  compatible  with  good  feeling  and  fra- 
ternal concord  :  I  see  that  much  devotion  need 
not  hinder  much  activity  :  and  I  do  not  see 
why  a  happy  Christian  should  not  be  as  strict 
and  consistent  and  unworldly  as  a  gloomy 
one." 

Now  which  is  the  happier  man, — the  recluse, 
who  is  his  own  all-in-all,  who  finds  a  bitter 
food  for  his  misanthropy  in  sneering  at  the 
architectural  quaintness  or  the  peculiar  garb 
of  his  fellows,  and  who  would  rather  starve  in 
12* 


138  THE    DEW   OF   HERMON. 

solitude  than  be  fed  and  warmed  at  his  neigh- 
bour's fire ;  or,  the  more  large-hearted  and  con- 
fiding citizen  who  passes  from  house  to  house 
an  internuncio  of  good  tidings  and  kind  feel- 
ings, carrying  from  family  to  family  the  fra- 
grant report  of  their  mutual  excellence,  and 
endeavouring  to  engender  good  opinion  and 
lay  a  foundation  for  friendly  offences  ?  And 
which  is  the  likelier  to  go  on  unto  perfection  ? 
The  self-sufficient  hermit,  who  has  grown  so 
wise  that  all  the  world  can  teach  him  nothing  ; 
or,  the  candid,  docile  inquirer,  who  feels  that 
he  knowreth  nothing  yet  as  he  ought  to  know, 
and  who  feels  that  it  were  a  becoming  end  for 
an  ignorant  sinner  to  die  learning  a  lesson  1 
From  each  circuit  of  kindness,  from  each 
friendly  visit,  he  might  come  back  with  a  har- 
vest of  practical  hints  and  useful  suggestions  ; 
and,  without  needing  to  pull  down  his  house 
and  reconstruct  it  each  time,  or  without  leav- 
ing it  and  removing  to  another,  he  might  bring 
with  him  what  would  greatly  add  to  its  internal 
comfort  and  social  enjoyment.  Would  all  the 
evangelical  denominations  cultivate  a  cordial 
intercourse  ;  were  we  taking  as  our  password 
the  sentence  which  our  Saviour  gave  us  long 
ago,  "  One  is  your  Master,  even  Christ,  and  all 
ye  are  brethren  ;"  were  wTe  in  this  spirit  to  meet 
and  hold  converse,  and  consult  about  our  Mas- 
ter's interests,  almost  every  end  of  Christian 


THE    DEW   OF    HERMON.  139 

union  would  be  answered.  From  every  such 
re-union  we  would  return  refreshed.  Mutual 
jealousy  would  melt  away.  We  would  not 
need  to  obtrude  our  peculiarities  on  one  another ; 
for  whatever  grace  of  God  we  saw  in  each 
other,  we  would  be  glad  and  long  to  share  it, 
■ — whatever  peculiar  excellence  the  one  pos- 
sessed the  other  would  borrow,  and  the  original 
owner  would  find  himself  no  loser.  Because  I 
am  a  Presbyterian,  must  I  have  no  dealings 
with  Episcopalians  or  Congregationalists  ?  Or, 
when  I  see  the  sequestered  and  unworldly  sim- 
plicity of  the  Moravians  ;  the  all-enlisting  live- 
liness of  the  Wesley  a  ns,  finding  use  for  every 
talent  and  a'  talent  in  every  member ;  the  deep 
fervour  and  spirituality  of  Welsh  Methodists  ; 
the  serene  piety  and  child-like  faith  of  the  Swiss 
Protestants  ;  and  the  practical  every-day  the- 
ology and  business-like  enterprise  of  the  Amer- 
ican Churches  ;  must  I  forego  all  these  as  de- 
nominational peculiarities  which  a  Presbyterian 
may  not  without  felony  appropriate  1  Or,  be- 
cause I  worship  in  Regent  Square,  am  I  to  be 
hindered  as  I  go  along  Great  Queen  Street  or 
Bedford  Row,  as  I  pass  Surrey  or  John  Street 
Chapel,  and  think  of  our  friends  and  brethren 
who  worship  there,  from  saying,  "Peace  be 
within  thee?" 

7.  Let  us  unite  in   some  common   object 
The  union  which  has   no  definite  object  ir 


140  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

view,  which  is  merely  a  union  for  union's  sake, 
will  hang  loosely  together  and  soon  dissolve 
again.  The  best  way  to  keep  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace7  is  to  keep  it  for 
some  common  object.  Some  think  that  they 
have  found  a  rallying  point  for  the  divided 
Churches  on  the  platform  of  missionary  socie- 
ties ;  and  it  is  delightful  to  think  how  much 
rivalry  of  love  and  interchange  of  Christian 
affection  have  been  elicited  in  those  heart-stir- 
ring convocations.  But  much  of  that  courtesy 
and  cordiality  is  the  propitious  effusion  of  the 
day,  or  does  not  outlive  the  hour  of  meeting  ; 
and  when  the  speech-makers  get  back  to  their 
homes,  when  they  are  withdrawn  from  the 
melting  atmosphere  of  the  public  meeting,  they 
often  get  frozen  up  in  their  original  sectarianism 
again.  The  brotherly  love  of  many  is  like  the 
blood  of  St.  Januarius,  which  melts  but  once 
a-year.  But  though  the  conductors  of  mis- 
sionary societies  are  not  always  united,  the 
missionaries  usually  are.  Though  the  men 
who  send  them  out  sometimes  ply  their  de- 
nominational controversies  with  acerbity  all 
the  year,  and  only  sign  a  truce  for  a  few  days 
in  the  month  of  May,  you  will  find  that  the 
missionaries  themselves  seldom  find  leisure  for 
controversy  with  one  another.  Why  1  Because 
they  have  such  a  terrible  controversy  with 
atheism  and  unbelief,  they  have  such  a  fight 


THE    DEW    OF    HERMON.  141 

with  principalities  and  powers  of  darkness,  that 
they  have  no  leisure  to  fight  with  one  another. 
In  India,  in  Africa,  in  Labrador,  the  denomi- 
nations dwell  in  unity.  The  City  Missionaries 
of  London,  representing  many  sects,  have  no 
disposition  to  wage  war  on  one  another.  They 
find  the  hosts  of  darkness  too  fierce  and  power- 
ful to  render  division  safe  or  desirable.  And 
it  is  the  knowledge  of  this  that  makes  us  think 
that  were  the  pious  and  accomplished  men 
who  unite  at  our  public  meetings  to  go  down 
from  the  platform  to  the  mission-field,  were  the 
orators  themselves  becoming  missionaries,  the 
union  of  that  hour  would  become  a  union  for 
life.  The  missionary  meeting  brings  the  cross 
in  view, — and  in  the  sight  of  its  affecting  won- 
ders disciples  forget  their  grudges  and  their 
feuds:  no  man  is  a  sectarian  so  long  as  his 
eye  rests  on  a  bleeding  Saviour.  The  mis- 
sionary meeting  brings  the  miserable  Satan- 
bound  world  in  view, — and  in  sight  of  its  aw- 
ful and  guilty  case  no  man  who  loves  God's 
glory  or  his  brother's  soul  can  remain  a  sec- 
tary. But  the  missionary  jubilee  ends,  and  its 
moving  sights  fade  away :  the  cross  becomes 
shadowy,  or  a  denominational  halo  encom- 
passes it :  the  perishing  world  falls  back  into 
distance,  and  it  needs  the  telescope  of  the  sect 
to  catch  another  sight  of  it.  It  would  be  dif- 
ferent did  those  who  this  day  advocate  a  com- 


142  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

mon  cause  really  make  a  common  cause  of  it7 
and  go  forth  missionaries  themselves ;  not  to 
India,  but  to  England.  The  controversies 
which  one  Evangelic  Church  has  with  another 
— and  it  is  a  misnomer  calling  that  a  Church 
which  does  not  preach  the  Gospel — are  very 
trivial  compared  with  that  controversy  which 
the  Church  of  Christ  has  with  the  world.  "  One 
heresy,  called  drunkenness."  is  ruining  far 
more  souls  than  any  Church  is  saving.  The 
sect  of  the  Sabbath-breakers  outnumbers  any 
denomination  in  England.  And  there  is  an 
infinitely  wider  interval  between  the  party  who 
deny  the  sole-sufficiency  of  the  atonement,  or  who 
believing  it  refuse  to  preach  it  publicly,  than 
between  all  the  denominations  in  Europe  whose 
watch-word  is  the  old  Reformation  talisman, "  Je- 
hovah-Tsidkenu,  the  Lord  our  righteousness." 
And  whilst  there  are  many  parishes  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland,  where  a  free  and  full  salva- 
tion is  not  preached  at  all,  or  preached  so  ob- 
scurely that  people  cannot  understand  it,  or  so 
timidly  that  they  are  afraid  to  believe  it ;  whilst 
there  are  myriads  in  this  very  city  whom  you 
must  compel  to  come  in,  or  else  they  will 
never  come  into  the  house  of  God  at  all ; 
whilst  many  are  preaching  another  Gospel 
which  is  not  another,  and  subverting  the 
grace  of  God,  are  we  to  lavish  all  our 
strength  on  ephemeral  controversy  and  mutual 


THE    DEW    OP    HERMON,  143 

recrimination  7  Are  we  to  waste  the  rapid  days 
and  allow  the  harvest  to  rot  upon  the  fields, 
whilst  we  are  settling  which  is  the  best  form  of 
the  sickle,  and  debating  in  what  sort  of  vehicle 
we  shall  carry  home  the  sheaves  ?  Are  there 
not  all  important  truths,  for  which  our  concur- 
ring testimony,  and  helping  prayers,  and  mu- 
tual countenance,  would  be  all  too  little  to  win 
a  nation's  reluctant  ear ;  and  in  the  effort  to 
rouse  a  sleeping  world,  and  convert  an  ungodly 
kingdom,  will  any  voice  be  loud  enough  except 
the  united  cry  of  an  awakening  Church  ? 
Amongst  the  higher  orders  and  middling  classes 
of  British  society  are  many  who  make  no  re- 
ligious profession,  and  many  more  who  make 
a  general  profession,  but  on  whom  divine  reali- 
ties have  such  shadowy  hold,  that  in  the  testing 
trials  of  Christian  principle  you  may  with  pain- 
ful certainty  foretel  the  result.  Amongst  the 
industrious  and  more  dependent  classes  is  a 
fearful  multitude,  especially  in  rural  places, 
whom  mental  torpor  and  uninquiring  ignorance 
have  prepared  for  any  faith  or  fancy  which 
authority  may  enjoin  ;  and  another  multitude, 
abounding  in  cities  and  manufacturing  regions, 
too  acute  to  credit  the  dreams  of  superstition, 
but  in  ignorance  of  revelation  and  dislike  of  its 
restraints,  all  too  ready  to  hail  the  scorning  in- 
fidelity, which  in  a  land  of  free  inquiry  is  su- 


144  THE    DEW   OF   HERMON. 

perstition's  unfailing  satellite.  For  such  a  state 
of  things  there  is  one  remedy.  It  is  that  only 
form  of  truth,  so  important  and  so  true,  as  to 
be  worthy  of  the  Spirit's  demonstration — the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  But  to  secure  wide  and 
efficient  circulation  for  this  truth,  would  need 
the  undiverted  strength  and  diligence  of  all 
who  know  and  love  it.  An  Evangelical  Union 
for  Evangelistic  purposes  was  never  more 
needed  than  it  is  this  day ;  and  as  the  materials 
for  such  union  are  not  wanting,  and  the  provi- 
dential call  to  it  is  louder  every  day,  why  do 
we  postpone  ?  In  days  of  confusion  and  blood- 
shed, the  first  thing  that  united  Europe  was  a 
crusade  against  the  infidel.  The  first  thing 
that  will  unite  a  torn  and  distracted  Church, 
will  be  a  cross-exalting  war, — a  crusade  upon 
the  world, — a  simultaneous  forthgoing  in  the 
wake  of  that  banner,  which  did  we  lovingly 
eye  and  implicitly  follow,  we  should  conquer  at 
once  the  world  and  ourselves.  A  confederacy 

FOR  THE  RESUSCITATION  OF  GOSPEL  TRUTH 
AND  FOR  THE  REVIVAL  OF  TRUE  RELIGION 
WOULD  ITSELF    BE    UNION. 

8.  Should  we  find  our  overtures  of  kindness 
and  conciliation  rejected  by  any  whom  we  have 
reason  to  regard  as  real  disciples,  let  us  not  be 
discouraged.  If  Christian  unity  be  so  impor- 
tant to  the  cause  of  Christ,  it  is  surely  worth 


THE    DEW  OF    HERMON.  145 

some  self-denial  and  pains-taking  to  secure  it. 
If  the  burthen  of  the  self-denial  fall  on  us,  and 
we  receive  grace  to  bear  it,  it  is  our  privilege  to 
be  "  the  martyrs  for  charity."  It  is  not  enough 
to  sigh  after  unity ;  it  is  not  enough  to  pray 
for  it :  if  we  really  desire  it,  we  must  labor  and 
deny  ourselves,  and  have  long  patience  to  ob- 
tain it.  And  if  our  motive  really  be  love  to  the 
Redeemer,  and  desire  to  fulfil  his  joy,  the  con- 
sciousness that  we  do  it  unto  him  should  be  the 
consolation  for  many  failures  ;  and  the  recollec- 
tion that  his  prayer  has  ensured  success,  should 
make  us  feel  that  every  failure  only  brings  the 
successful  issue  nearer. 

It  is  this  persuasion  which  has  encouraged 
this  attempt.  It  will  be  useful  if  it  arrest  the 
attention  of  more  influential  members  of  the 
Church,  or  animate  the  prayers  of  those  whose 
influence  all  lies  in  the  upper  sanctuary.  If  it 
should  fail  of  these  higher  ends,  it  may  perhaps 
fall  into  the  hands  of  some  who  will  accept  it 
as  a  statement  on  behalf  of  one  congregation,* 

*  It  is  confirming  to  the  author's  mind  that  the  general 
sentiments  of  this  tract  are  those  of  his  much  esteemed  bre- 
thren, the  elders  and  deacons  of  that  Church  in  which  he 
ministers.  He  has  daily  reason  to  thank  the  Lord  for  having 
cast  his  lot  in  a  kirk-session  and  congregation  where  such 
subjects  are  congenial,  and  gladly  avails  himself  of  the  sanc- 
tion to  the  foregoing  views  and  statements  implied  in  their 
request  to  publish  them.  The  reader  who  feels  interested  in 
the  general  theme,  is  referred  to  Dr.  Harris's  Essay,  "  Union ;" 
«  The  Unity  of  the  Church,  another  Tract  for  the  Times," 

13 


146  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

who,  though  they  love  their  own  communion 
much,  love  the  communion  of  saints  still  more. 
Dwelling  in  unity  ourselves,  we  should  rejoice 
to  dwell  in  unity  with  all  our  believing  brethren. 
And  as  we  have  only  found  the  free  expression 
of  our  mutual  mind  promote  this  unity,  so  we 
believe  that  were  there  a  better  understanding 
among  the  different  denominations,  there  might 
be  a  very  full  expression  of  various  opinion,  and 
an  ample  discussion  of  the  advantages  of  our 
several  systems,  without  danger  of  offence ; 
and  as  the  result  of  all  we  might  reach,  if  not 
a  state  of  perfection,  at  least  a  state  of  much 
nearer  approximation. 

We  end  as  we  began.  Heaven  is  the  abode 
of  unity,  and  when  the  spirit  of  unity  comes 
into  a  soul  or  into  a  Church,  it  cometh  from 
above.  The  Comforter  brings  it  down.  Discord 
is  of  the  earth,  or  from  beneath.  The  divisions 
of  Christians  shew  that  there  is  still  much  car- 
nality amongst  them.  The  more  carnal  a 
Christian  is,  the  more  sectarian  will  he  be  ;  and 
the  more  spiritual  he  is,  the  more  loving  and 
forbearing,  and  self-renouncing  are  you  sure  to 
find  him.  And  it  is  with  Christian  communities 
as  with  individual  Christians.  When  the  tide 
is  out,  you  may  have  noticed,  as  you  rambled 

by  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  B.  Noel,  M.A. ;  and  a  sermon  on 
"  Christian  and  Ecclesiastical  Unity,"  by  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Burns. 
London  Wail. 


THE    DEW    OF    HERMON.  147 

among  the  rocks,  little  pools  with  little  fishes  in 
them.  To  the  shrimp  in  such  a  pool  his  foot- 
depth  of  salt  water  is  all  the  ocean  for  the  time 
being.  He  has  no  dealings  with  his  neighbour 
shrimp  in  the  adjacent  pool,  though  it  may  be 
only  a  few  inches  of  sand  that  divides  them. 
But  when  the  rising  ocean  begins  to  lip  over 
the  margin  of  his  lurking-place,  one  pool  joins 
another,  their  various  tenants  meet,  and  by 
and  bye,  in  place  of  their  little  patch  of  stand- 
ing water,  they  have  the  ocean's  boundless 
fields  to  roam  in.  When  the  tide  is  out — when 
religion  is  low — the  faithful  are  to  be  found  in- 
sulated, here  a  few  and  there  a  few,  in  the  little 
standing  pools  that  stud  the  beach,  having  no 
dealings  with  their  neighbours  of  the  adjoining 
pools,  calling  them  Samaritans,  and  fancying 
that  their  own  little  communion  includes  all 
that  are  precious  in  God's  sight.  They  forget 
for  a  time  that  there  is  a  vast  and  expansive 
ocean  rising — every  ripple,  every  reflux,  brings 
it  nearer — a  mightier  communion,  even  the 
communion  of  saints,  which  is  to  engulph  all 
minor  considerations,  and  to  enable  the  fishes 
of  all  pools,  the  Christians,  the  Christ-lovers  of 
all  denominations,  to  come  together.  When, 
like  a  flood,  the  Spirit  flows  into  the  Churches, 
Church  will  join  to  Church,  and  saint  will 
join  to  saint,  and  all  will  rejoice  to  find  that  if 
their  little  pools  have  perished,  it  is  not  by  the 


148  THE    DEW    OF    HERMON. 

scorching  summer's  drought,  nor  the  casting  h 
of  earthly  rubbish,  but  by  the  influx  of  tha' 
boundless  sea  whose  glad  waters  touch  eter 
nity,  and  in  whose  ample  depths  the  saints  in 
heaven  as  well  as  the  saints  on  earth  have 
room  enough  to  range.  Yes,  our  Churches  are 
the  standing  pools  along  the  beach,  with  just 
enough  of  their  peculiar  element  to  keep  the 
few  inmates  living  during  this  ebb-tide  period 
of  the  Church's  history.  But  they  form  a  very 
little  fellowship — the  largest  is  but  little — yet 
is  there  steadily  flowing  in  a  tide  of  universal 
life  and  love,  which,  as  it  lips  in  over  the  mar- 
gin of  the  little  pool,  will  stir  its  inhabitants 
with  an  unwonted  vivacity,  and  then  let  them 
loose  in  the  large  range  of  the  Spirit's  own 
communion.  Happy  Church !  farthest  down 
upon  the  strand  !  nearest  the  rising  ocean's 
edge !  Happy  Church !  whose  sectarianism 
shall  first  be  swept  away  in  this  inundation  of 
love  and  joy !  w7hose  communion  shall  first 
break  forth  into  that  purest  and  holiest,  and 
yet  most  comprehensive  of  all  communions, — 
the  communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost !  Would  to 
God  that  Church  were  our's  ! 


TWO  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO. 

AN  ODE, 


Written  for  the  Bi-centenary  celebration  of  the  illustrious  Westmin- 
ster Assembly  of  Divines,  by  whom  the  standards  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  were  formed.    July  1843. 

BY  MRS.  J.  L.  GRAY. 

Two  hundred  years,  two  hundred  years,  our  bark  o'er  billowy 

seas, 
Has  onward  kept  her  steady  course,  through  hurricane  and 

breeze ; 
Her  Captain  was  the  mighty  One,  she  braved  the  stormy  foe, 
And  still  he  guides,  who  guided  her,  two  hundred  years  ago ! 

Her  chart  was  God's  unerring  word,  by  which  her  course  to 

steer — 
Her  Helmsman  was  the  risen  Lord,  a  helper  ever  near — 
Though  many  a  beauteous  boat  has  sunk,  the  treacherous 

waves  below, 
Yet  ours  is  sound  as  she  was  built,  two  hundred  years  ago  ! 

The  wind  that  filled  her  swelling  sheet  from  many  a  point 

has  blown, 
Still   urging   her  unchanging  course,  through   shoals   and 

breakers,  on — 
Her  fluttering  pennant  still  the  same,  whatever  breeze  might 

blow, 
It  pointed,  as  it  does  to  heaven,  two  hundred  years  ago ! 

When   first  our  gallant  ship  was  launched,  although  her 

hands  were  few, 
Yet  dauntless  was  each  bosom  found,  and  every  heart  was 

true! 
And  still,  though  in  her  mighty  hull,  unnumbered  bosoms 

glow, 
Her  crew  is  faithful  as  it  was  two  hundred  years  ago ! 

13* 


150  TWO    HUNDRED    YEARS    AGO. 

True  some  have  left  this  noble  craft  to  sail  the  seas  alone  ; 
And  made  them,  in  their  hour  of  pride,  a  vessel  of  their  own ; 
Ah !    me,  when  clouds  portentous  rise,  when  threatening 

tempests  blow, 
They'll  wish  for  that  old  vessel  built  two  hundred  years  ago ! 

For  onward  rides  our  gallant  bark,  with  all  her  canvass  set, 
In  many  a  nation   still  unknown,  to  plant   her  standard 

yet;— 

Her  flag  shall  float,  where'er  the  breeze  of  freedom's  breath 

shall  blow, 
And  millions  bless  the  boat  that  sailed  two  hundred  years 

ago! 

On  Scotia's  coast,  in  days  of  yore,  she  lay  almost  a  wreck, 
Her  mainmast  gone,  her  rigging  torn,  the  boarders  on  the 

deck ; — 
There  Cameron,  Cargill,  Cochran  fell ;  there  Renwick's  blood 

did  flow, 
Defending  our  good  vessel  built  two  hundred  years  ago ! 

Ah!   many  a  martyr's  blood  was  shed,  we  may  not  name 

them  all ; 
They  tore  the  peasant  from  his  hut ;   the  noble  from  his 

hall; 
Then  brave  Argyle,  thy  father's  blood,  for  faith  did  freely 

flow; 
And  pure  the  stream  as  was  the  fount,  two  hundred  years 

ago! 

Yet  onward  still  our  vessel  pressed,  and  weathered  out  the 

gale; 
She  cleared  the  wreck,  and  spliced  the  mast,  and  mended 

every  sail, 
And  swifter,  stauncher,  mightier  far,  upon  her  cruise  did 

go;— 

Strong  hands  and  gallant  hearts  had  she,  two  hundred  years 
ago! 

And  see  her  now — on  beam  ends  cast,  beneath  a  north-west 

storm, 
Heave  overboard  the  very  bread,  to  save  the  ship  from 

harm ; — 


TWO   HUNDRED    YEARS    AGO.  151 

She  rights !— she  rides !— hark,  how  they  cheer,  All's  well, 

above,  below ! 
She's  tight,  as  when  she  left  the  stocks,  two  hundred  years 

ago!* 

True  to  that  guiding  star  which  led  to  Israel's  cradled  hope, 
Her  steady  needle  pointeth  yet  to  Calvary's  bloody  top ! 
Yes,  there  she  floats,  that  good  old  ship,  from  mast  to  keel 

below, 
Sea- worthy  still,  as  erst  she  was  two  hundred  years  ago ! 

Not  unto  us,  not  unto  us,  be  praise  or  glory  given, 

But  unto  Him,  who  watch  and  ward,  hath  kept  for  her  in 

heaven ; 
Who  quelled  the  whirlwind  in  its  wrath,  bade  tempests  cease 

to  blow, 
That  God,  who  launched  our  vessel  forth,  two  hundred  years 

ago! 

Then  onward,  speed  thee,  brave  old  bark,  speed  onward  in 

thy  pride. 
O'er  sunny  seas  and  billows  dark,  Jehovah  still  thy  guide; 
And  sacred  be  each  plank  and  spar,  unchanged  by  friend  or 

foe, 
Just  as  she  left  Old  Westminster,  two  hundred  years  ago  ! 
Easton,  Pennsyh 


*  The  intelligence  has  just  arrived,  showing  that  by  the  recupera- 
tive energy  of  the  truth,  as  embodied  in  our  system,  the  Church  of 
Scotland  has  righted,  and  is  free,  though  at  the  expense  of  every 
thing  but  her  Divine  Head. 


THE 


DESTINATION  OF  THE  JEWS. 


BY  THE  REV.  JAMES  HAMILTON, 

MINISTER   OF  THE   NATIONAL   SCOTCH  CHURCH,   REGENT   SV7ARB. 


Luke  xxi.  24. 
"  Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles,  until  the 
times  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled." 

Romans  xi.  25,  26: 

11  Blindness  in  part  is  happened  to  Israel,  until  the  fulness  of 

the  Gentiles  be  come  in.     And  so  all  Israel  shall  be  saved." 

In  submitting-  a  few  remarks  on  the  Destina- 
tion of  the  Jews,  I  have  selected  these  two 
passages,  not  because  they  are  the  fullest  pre- 
dictions on  this  momentous  matter,  but  because 
they  are  among  the  latest.  When  you  say 
that  Israel  will  yet  be  restored  and  converted, 
and  quote  in  support  of  your  position  Old  Tes- 
tament predictions,  their  force  is  often  evaded 
on  no  other  pretext  but  because  they  are  found 
in  the  Old  Testament,  as  if  the  Old  Testament 
were  not  as  authoritative  as  the  New — or  as  if 
the  Old  were  all  fulfilled  and  finished  the  in- 
stant the  New  began.     But  leaving  the  Old 


DESTINATION   OF   THE    JEWS.  153 

Testament  entirely  out  of  view,  the  destination 
of  the  Jews  might  be  sufficiently  gathered  from 
what  Christ  and  his  inspired  apostles  have  told 
us.  Had  we  no  Scriptures  but  the  Gospels  and 
Epistles,  it  would  be  extremely  probable  that 
the  house  of  Judah  should  fill  their  old  seats 
again,  and  absolutely  certain  that  they  should 
become  the  conspicuous  and  favoured  people 
of  God  once  more. 

However,  I  confess  that  I  have  no  desire  thus 
to  narrow  the  field  of  presumption  and  proof. 
I  would  read  these  New  Testament  prophecies 
in  the  light  of  the  Old,  and  fill  up  these  more 
recent  hints  from  the  ampler  information  of 
earlier  predictions.  I  would,  on  the  one  hand, 
learn  more  fully  what  God's  purpose  is,  and  on 
the  other,  would  ascertain  that  this  purpose  is 
not  yet  fulfilled — in  other  words,  that  it  is  God's 
purpose  still.  The  New  Testament  allusions 
to  Israel's  last  return  are  cursory  and  few,  but 
it  is  enough  that  there  are  allusions.  If  you 
get  a  letter  from  a  friend  in  India  telling  that 
he  proposes  to  take  a  journey  home,  and  fixing 
the  very  time  of  his  intended  departure,  des- 
cribing the  route  he  intends  to  pursue,  the 
length  of  time  which  he  is  likely  to  tarry  at  such  a 
place,  and  the  business  which  he  hopes  to  trans- 
act at  such  another  place,  and  the  time  when 
he  hopes  to  arrive  in  Britain ;  should  his  next 
despatch  relate  to  some  affair  which  has  occur- 


154  DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS. 

red  in  the  meanwhile,  you  would  not  expect 
that  this  second  letter  should  repeat  all  the  de- 
tails of  its  predecessor.  It  would  be  enough  if 
he  did  not  intimate  any  change  of  plan — it 
would  be  more  than  enough  if  he  made  the 
most  casual  reference  to  the  subject ;  if  he  said, 
for  instance,  "  When  I  take  my  journey  home- 
wards," or,  "  as  soon  as  I  set  out ;"  howevei 
slight  the  allusion,  you  would  know  to  expect 
him  still.  And  when  the  Psalms,  and  Isaiah, 
and  Jeremiah,  and  Ezekiel,  and  Daniel,  and 
Micah,  and  Zechariah,  and  Malachi ;  when 
the  Old  Testament  is  full  of  Judah's  restora- 
tion and  conversion — of  all  the  accompanying 
signs  and  subsequent  effects,  it  is  enough  for  us 
if  Luke,  and  Paul,  and  John — if  the  New 
Testament  penmen  writing  on  another  errand 
and  a  new  emergency,  do  not  supersede  or  dis- 
allow the  predictions  of  their  predecessors.  It 
is  more  than  enough,  when  I  find  by  frequent 
allusions  and  explicit  statements,  that  they 
assume  and  sanction  the  whole. 

Abstaining  from  all  speculations  regarding 
the  period  when,  and  the  agencies  by  which 
the  result  is  to  be  brought  about,  it  will  be  the 
object  of  this  lecture  to  show, 

I.  That  the  Jews  are  to  be  restored  to  theii 
own  land  ;  and — 

II.  That  they  are  to  be  converted. 


DESTINATION    OF   THE    JEWS.  155 

In  other  words,  the  destination  of  the  Jews 
includes  their  restoration  and  conversion. 

I.  It  is  God's  purpose  to  restore  the  Jews. 
u  Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, till  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  be  fullnlled  ;" 
in  other  words,  when  the  Gentile  lease  is  out, 
Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  no  more. 

When  a  great  city  is  overthrown,  and  the 
first  out-burst  of  sorrow  dies  away,  it  is  either 
quietly  rebuilt  and  re-occupied,  or  forsaken  and 
forgotten.  In  either  case  it  is  only  one  genera- 
tion which  suffers.  If  a  new  city  rise  on  the 
ruins  of  the  old,  the  conquerors  and  the  con- 
quered usually  blend  more  or  less  together,  and 
in  some  future  age  they  live  promiscuously  and 
rejoice  in  common  on  a  soil  which  their  fathers 
moistened  with  one  another's  blood.  What 
modern  Roman  lays  it  the  least  to  heart  that 
the  grass  waves  in  theatres  where  his  forefa- 
thers sate  the  long  summer  day,  and  laughed, 
and  cheered,  and  shouted  ;  or,  who  feels  it  per- 
sonally that  the  bramble  grows  out  of  the  riven 
altar  on  which  Romulus  or  Numa  laid  the 
struggling  victim  ?  The  chain  of  identity  is 
broken,  and  the  new  race  is  clean  severed  from 
the  old.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  no  new  city  be 
suffered  to  arise,  if  the  shock  which  overturned 
its  walls  have  also  dispersed  its  people,  like  the 
shattered  fragments  of  the  avalanche,  they 
soon  melt  and  are  lost  atoms  in  the  stream  of 


156  DESTINATION   OF    THE    JEW*. 

some  mightier  population.  Where  is  the  bo- 
som in  which  Troy  awakens  the  faintest  throb 
of  patriotic  feeling?  What  nation  pays  its 
pilgrimage  to  the  swampy  sites  of  Nineveh  and 
Babylon  ?  And  what  emotion  beyond  a  vague 
and  impersonal  sadness,  a  general  impression 
of  the  melancholy,  a  sense  of  dreariness  with- 
out any  touch  of  tenderness,  is  ever  called  forth 
among  the  broken  shafts  of  Palmyra,  and 
empty  rock-nests  of  Petra?  Where  are  the 
people  who  have  the  hereditary  right  to  sit 
down  among  such  ruins,  and  recognising  em- 
blems of  departed  glory,  the  right  to  weep  be- 
cause their  "house  is  left  unto  them  desolate?" 
Where  are  the  old  inhabitants  ?  They  were  not 
exterminated,  and  yet  they  have  vanished. 
Merged  in  the  nations,  and  mutually  commin- 
gled, there  is  no  precipitate  which  can  decom- 
pose them  and  bring  them  out  in  their  original 
distinctness  again.  The  house  is  desolate  ;  but 
no  one  feels  that  the  house  is  his,  so  no  one 
mourns  its  desolation.  But  there  is  a  city 
whose  case  is  quite  peculiar.  Captured,  ravaged, 
burnt,  razed  to  the  foundation,  dispeopled,  car- 
ried captive,  its  deported  citizens  sold  in  slavery, 
and  forbidden  by  severest  penalties  to  visit  their 
native  seats  again  ;  though  eighteen  centuries 
have  passed,  and  strangers  still  tread  its  hal- 
lowed soil,  that  city  is  still  the  magnet  of  many 
hearts,  and  awakens  from  time  to  time  pangs 


DESTINATION   OF    THE    JEWS.  157 

of  as  keen  emotion  as  when  its  fall  was  recent. 
Ever  and  anon,  and  from  all  the  winds  of 
heaven  Zion's  exiled  children  come  to  visit  her, 
and  with  eyes  weeping  sore  bewail  her  widow- 
hood. No  city  was  ever  honoured  thus.  None 
else  receives  pilgrimages  of  affection  from  the 
fiftieth  generation  of  its  outcast  people.  None 
else  after  centuries  of  dispersion  could  at  the 
first  call  gather  beneath  its  wings  the  whole 
of  its  wide-wandering  family.  None  else  has 
possessed  a  spell  sufficient  to  keep  in  remotest 
regions,  and  in  the  face  of  the  mightiest  induce- 
ments, its  people  still  distinct :  and  none  but 
itself  can  now  be  re-peopled  with  precisely  the 
same  race  which  left  it  nearly  two  thousand 
years  ago.  The  reason  of  this  anomaly  must 
be  sought,  not  in  Jerusalem,  but  in  the  purposes 
of  God. 

Here  are  two  familiar  facts.  The  Jews  are 
still  distinct,  and  to  the  Jews  Jerusalem  still  is 
dear.  What  is  the  final  cause — the  Divine 
reason  for  these  singular  facts  ?  Why,  when 
all  other  scattered  nations  mix  and  mingle — 
why  is  it  that,  like  naptha  in  a  fountain,  or 
amber  floating  on  the  sea,  this  people,  shaken 
hither  and  thither,  are  found,  after  all  their 
tossings  and  jumblings,  separate  and  immis- 
cible ?  And  why,  again,  when  every  other  for- 
saken city  after  an  age  or  two  is  forgotten  by 
its  people — why  has  Jerusalem  such  strong 
14 


158  DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS. 

affinity  for  its  outcast  population,  that  the  city 
refuses  any  other  permanent  inhabitants,  and 
the  old  inhabitants  refuse  any  other  settled 
home  7  Why  these  anomalous  and  mutually 
adapting  facts,  unless  God  has  some  purpose 
with  the  place  and  with  the  people,  and  unless 
the  place  and  the  people  have  yet  something 
to  do  with  one  another  ? 

This  presumption  becomes  an  absolute  cer- 
tainty when  we  consult  the  sure  Word  of  pro- 
phecy :  and,  in  order  not  to  confuse  your  ideas 
and  oppress  your  memories  with  a  multitude 
of  quotations,  I  would  by  the  way  of  specimen 
select  the  following  three  : — 

"  In  that  day  there  shall  be  a  root  of  Jesse, 
which  shall  stand  for  an  ensign  to  the  people ; 
to  it.  shall  the  Gentiles  seek  :  and  his  rest  shall 
be  glorious.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that 
day,  that  the  Lord  shall  set  his  hand  again 
the  second  time  to  recover  the**  remnant  of  his 
people,  which  shall  be  left,  from  Assyria,  and 
from  Egypt,  and  from  Pathros,  and  from  Gush, 
and  from  Elam,  and  from  Shinar,  and  from 
Hamath,  and  from  the  islands  of  the  sea.  And 
he  shall  set  up  an  ensign  for  the  nations,  and 
shall  assemble  the  outcasts  of  Israel,  and  gather 
together  the  dispersed  of  Judah  from  the  four 
corners  of  the  earth."* 

"  For  I  will  take  you  from  among  the  hea- 

*  Isaiah  xi.  10—  'j3. 


DESTINATION  OF   THE    JEWS.  159 

then,  and  gather  you  out  of  all  countries,  and 
will  bring  you  into  your  own  land.  Then  will 
I  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye  shall 
be  clean  ;  from  all  your  filthiness,  and  from  all 
your  idols  will  I  cleanse  you.  A  new  heart 
also  will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put 
within  you ;  and  I  will  take  away  the  stony 
heart  out  of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you  an 
heart  of  flesh.  And  I  will  put  my  spirit  within 
you,  and  cause  you  to  walk  in  my  statutes,  and 
ye  shall  keep  my  judgments,  and  do  them. 
And  ye  shall  dwell  in  the  land  that  I  gave  to 
to  your  fathers  ;  and  ye  shall  be  my  people, 
and  I  will  be  your  God."* 

"  Therefore  shall  Zion  for  your  sake  be  plowed 
as  a  field,  and  Jerusalem  shall  become  heaps, 
and  the  mountain  of  the  house  as  the  high 
places  of  the  forest.  But  in  the  last  days  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  that  the  mountain  of  the 
house  of  the  Lord  shall  be  established  in  the 
top  of  the  mountains,  and  it  shall  be  exalted 
above  the  hills ;  and  people  shall  flow  unto  it. 
And  many  nations  shall  come,  and  say,  Come, 
and  let  us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord, 
and  to  the  house  of  the  God  of  Jacob ;  and  he 
will  teach  us  of  his  ways,  and  we  will  walk  in 
his  paths ;  for  the  law  shall  go  forth  of  Zion, 
and  the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem."! 
I  would  only  further  remark,  that  agreeably 
*  Ezekiel  xxxvi.  24—28.  t  Micah  iii.  12  j  iv.  1, 2. 


160  DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS. 

to  these  prophecies,  no  nation  has  been  allowed 
to  settle  in  Jerusalem.  It  has  all  along  been 
"trodden  down"  of  the  Gentiles;  but  no  one 
set  of  the  Gentiles  has  been  allowed  to  tread  it 
long  time  together.  It  has  been  "  successively- 
occupied  by  the  Romans,  the  Persians,  the 
Saracens,  the  Turks  of  the  Seleucian  race,  the 
Egyptian  caliphs,  the  Latin  Christians,  the 
Egyptian  caliphs  a  second  time,  the  Mamalucs, 
and  the  Turks  of  the  Ottoman  race."*  And 
by  this  ceaseless  change  of  occupants,  it  has 
been  very  plainly  hinted  that  all  were  intruders 
and  usurpers,  and  that  the  rightful  owner  had 
not  yet  appeared  ;  so  much  so,  that  I  greatly 
err  if  it  be  not  the  conviction  of  the  present 
possessors,  both  Frank  and  Moslem,  that  they 
are  the  mere  locum  tenentes,  sitting  there  by 
sufferance  till  the  way  be  ready  for  the  return 
of  the  ancestral  lords.  Christians  and  Infidels, 
Papists  and  Mahometans,  Franks  and  Sara- 
cens, Turks  and  Egyptians,  have  fought  for  the 
Holy  City,  and  possessed  it  all  by  turns;  but 
never  any  of  them  been  able  to  keep  it  long. 
And  whilst  in  their  struggles  for  its  custody, 
the  Gentiles  have  trodden  Jerusalem  down,  the 
persecuted  people  whose  it  is,  await  in  calm 
assurance  the  day  when  the  Lord  himself  shall 
put  them  in  perpetual  possession. 

Looking  to  the  present  languid  and  withered 
*  Faber  on  the  House  of  Judah  and  Israel,  vol.  ii.  p.  304. 


DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS.  161 

aspect  of  the  country,  it  may  be  a  question  with 
some  whether  a  literal  restoration  to  Palestine 
would  be  a  blessing  to  the  Jews.  On  that 
question  we  deem  the  people  themselves  the 
best  judges,  and  if  they  desire  it,  it  must  be  a 
blessing — a  blessing  because  they  desire  it. 
The  question  with  the  exile  is  not  whether  his 
native  land  or  his  place  of  banishment  be  the 
fairest  and  most  fruitful ;  but  all  the  question 
is,  how  he  shall  get  home.  But  independently 
of  this,  Palestine  is  "  a  goodly  land."  Its  in- 
trinsic resources  are  far  from  despicable,  and 
its  position,  relatively  to  other  lands,  perhaps 
the  most  advantageous  in  the  world.  Spread 
out  beneath  a  sky  whose  severest  aspect  is 
mild,  and  whose  summer  glow  is  only  intense 
enough  to  elaborate  those  aromatic  harvests 
unknown  in  more  moist  and  chilly  climes, 
Palestine  used  to  be  a  land  «of  sprightly  music 
and  long  livers.  In  those  regions  where  the 
air  is  sluggish,  life  is  dull,  and  men  do  their 
work  in  silence.  But  in  healthful  climes,  mus- 
cular energy  is  redundant,  and  the  animal  spi- 
rits overflow,  and  the  prodigal  excess  of  life  and 
power  escapes  in  joyous  shouts  and  nimble 
movements, — in  leaping  and  dancing,  in  melody 
and  song.  And  just  as  you  infer,  not  more 
from  its  long  livers— those  gay  old  "  grasshop- 
pers"— than  from  its  merry  singers,  that  ancient 
Attica  must  have  been  a  genial  lifesome  land, 
14* 


162  DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS. 

so  you  may  gather,  not  more  from  the  fre- 
quency of  fourscore  and  fivescore  among  its 
patriarchs,  than  from  the  abundance  of  its 
popular  minstrelsy  and  daily  music,  that  Pales- 
tine was  a  cheerful  and  salubrious  land.  From 
the  matron  at  the  well,  to  the  watchman  on 
the  walls,  from  the  strain  that  gushed  with 
earliest  spring,  to  the  shout  which  closed  the 
vintage,  there  were  tokens  unequivocal  of  life 
in  its  sunshine,  and  inspiration  in  its  air.  And 
perhaps  nothing  can  show  the  change  more 
solemnly  than  that  a  land  once  so  vocal  should 
be  so  silent  now.  And  as  it  was  a  salubrious, 
so  it  was  a  fertile  land.  In  its  better  days,  it 
was  "  the  garden  of  the  Lord,  a  land  of  brooks 
of  water,  of  fountains,  and  depths  that  spring 
out  of  valleys  and  hills  :  a  land  of  wheat  and 
barley,  and  vines,  and  fig-trees,  and  pome- 
granates, a  land  of  oil-olive  and  honey."  The 
long  desolations  have  dried  up  many  of  its 
fountains,  blasted  its  vines,  and  sadly  thinned 
its  fig-trees  ;  but  the  bee  still  murmurs  on  the 
fragrant  cliffs  of  Carmel,  and  the  sleek  olive 
yields  its  fatness  in  Gethsemane.  The  ruth- 
less natives,  and  more  ruthless  strangers,  have 
not  been  able  to  exterminate  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon  ;  sycamores  grow  by  the  wayside  as 
when  Zaccheus  clambered  up  to  catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  illustrious  stranger ;  and  the 
Arabian  pitches  his  tent  beneath  the  Terebinth, 


DESTINATION    OP    THE    JEWS.  163 

like  his  father  Abraham  when  angels  visited 
him  at  Mamre.  The  almond-tree  flourishes 
along  the  Jordan,  and  like  a  pyramid  of  silver 
cleaves  the  azure  of  a  cloudless  spring,  even  as 
when  its  glad  signal  announced  to  the  youth 
of  Judah  the  winter  past,  and  its  snowy  blos- 
soms on  leafless  branches  reminded  the  mon- 
arch-preacher that  his  own  almond-tree  would 
soon  be  flourishing.  Jericho  was  the  city  of 
palm-trees  in  the  days  of  Moses.  The  palm- 
leaves  of  Jericho  carpeted  the  path  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace  on  the  only  triumphal  procession  this 
world  ever  gave  him.  Jericho  is  the  city  of 
palm-trees  still.  The  trees  whose  borrowed 
foliage  spread  a  canopy  of  green  over  Jerusa- 
lem at  each  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  have  not 
entirely  vanished.  And  even  those  humbler 
glories  of  the  field,  which  no  goodly  land  can 
want,  may  still  be  recognised.  Sharon  has 
not  lost  its  rose,  and  among  the  hills  of  Galilee 
you  still  may  gather  the  gorgeous  amaryllis, 
descendant  of  those  very  lilies  to  which  the 
Divine  Teacher  pointed  one  autumn  evening 
eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  and  bade  his  dis- 
ciples "consider"  them.  A  traveller  speaks 
with  rapture  of  the  delicious  odour  which  sprang 
at  every  footstep  from  Jerusalem  to  Jaffa,  when 
the  long-looked  for  rains  had  revived  the  rose- 
mary and  other  scented  flowers.  Hasselquist 
was  charmed  with  the  jasmine  of  Palestine,  a 


164  DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS. 

trivial  circumstance,  were  it  not  that  a  prophecy 
of  many  a  sweet  Jewish  home  and  rural  dwelling 
may  be  enfolded  in  that  flower.  But  what  is 
economically  of  far  more  moment,  amidst  all 
the  recklessness  of  its  trampling  invaders,  and 
all  the  resourceless  poverty  of  its  abject  culti- 
vators, the  soil  gives  symptoms  of  its  exuberant 
fertility.  The  lazy  boor  on  the  sea-coast 
scratches  the  mould  and  flings  in  a  handful 
of  melon-seed,  and  is  rewarded  with  the  most 
delicious  produce  in  the  world.  The  mountain 
ranges  to  the  north  are  as  green  as  when  the 
bulls  of  Bashan  rioted  on  their  dripping  slopes. 
And  the  very  thistle-forests,  which  dense  and  tall 
usurp  its  plains,  show  that  these  plains  are 
capable  of  yielding  again  their  heaps  of  corn. 
In  short,  the  Lord  has  only  to  turn  that  cap- 
tivity like  streams  in  the  south,  to  fill  the  chan- 
nel of  that  dry  and  thirsty  land  with  the  stream 
of  its  returning  population,  in  order  to  clothe  it 
on  every  side  with  the  fertility  and  glories  of 
unexpected  spring.  Let  but  the  seed  of  Jacob 
people  it  once  more,  and  its  pastures  will  be 
clothed  with  flocks,  and  its  valleys  will  be 
covered  over  with  corn.  And  whilst  the  little 
hills  exult  on  every  side,  the  people  that  went 
forth  weeping  shall  doubtless  come  again  re- 
joicing. 

There  is  only  one  circumstance  more  which 
I  would  mention  in  this  connexion.     It  is  that 


DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS  165 

the  geographical  position  of  Palestine  will 
make  it  now  far  more  important  to  the  people 
who  possess  it  than  it  ever  was  before.  So  re- 
markably situated  is  it,  that  it  forms  the  bridge 
between  two  continents,  and  a  gateway  to  a 
third.  Were  the  population  and  the  wealth  of 
Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa  condensed  into  single 
points,  Palestine  would  be  the  centre  of  their 
common  gravity.  And  with  the  amazing  fa- 
cilities of  modern  intercourse,  and  the  prodigious 
extent  of  modern  traffic,  it  is  not  easy  to  estimate 
the  commercial  grandeur  to  which  a  kingdom 
may  attain,  planted  as  it  were  on  the  very  apex 
of  the  old  world, — with  its  three  continents 
spread  out  beneath  its  feet,  and  with  the  Red 
Sea  on  one  side  to  bring  it  all  the  golden  trea- 
sures and  spicy  harvests  of  the  East,  and  the 
Mediterranean  floating  in  on  the  other  side  all 
the  skill,  and  enterprise,  and  knowledge  of  the 
West.  For  the  sake  of  higher  ends  it  seems 
the  purpose  of  God  to  make  the  Holy  Land  a 
mart  of  nations  ;  and  by  bringing  the  forces 
of  the  Gentiles  to  Jerusalem,  to  send  the  bles- 
sing of  Abraham  among  the  Gentiles.* 

II.  I  now  pass  on  to  prove  a  point  without 
which  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  would  be  a 
blessing  neither  to  themselves  nor  to  the  world. 
I  mean  their  conversion.  There  are  some 
things  from  which  the  Jews  do  not  need  to  be 

*  Isaiah  Ix. 


166  DESTINATION   OF    THE    JEWfc 

converted  ;  e.  g.  they  are  not  idolaters,  and  do 
not  need  to  be  turned  from  image-worship. 
They  are  better  than  some  called  Christians  in 
this  respect.  But  they  are  self-righteous.  They 
have  mean  ideas  of  God's  holy  law,  for  they 
think  that  with  hearts  and  hands  tainted  by 
the  original  transgression  they  can  render  a 
pure  and  acceptable  obedience  to  that  law. 
They  have  wrong  ideas  of  sin,  for  they  fancy 
that  the  fasts,  and  prayers,  and  tears  of  the 
sinner  can  atone  for  insults  offered  to  the 
almighty  Majesty  and  sin-repelling  Holiness 
of  God.  And  they  have  wrong  ideas  of  God 
himself ;  for  his  amazing  gift  of  a  free  forgive- 
ness is  too  magnificent  for  them  to  receive  it, 
and  the  condescension  of  the  Son  of  God  in 
coming  down  and  dying  is  too  divine  for  them 
to  believe  it.  If  the  Jews  had  right  views  of 
the  law  of  God,  of  sin,  and  the  Saviour,  they 
would  be  converted.  We  believe  thaj,  the  Spi- 
rit of  God  will  give  them  such  views  ere  long. 
But  whether  their  conversion  is  to  precede  or 
accompany  or  follow  their  restoration,  or  rather 
whether  some  of  them  may  not  be  converted 
before  the  restoration,  and  the  remainder  after- 
ward ;  and  what  are  to  be  the  agencies  em- 
ployed, whether  there  is  to  be  a  second  personal 
appearing  of  the  Son  of  God  beforehand,  or 
whether  the  work  of  their  conversion  is  to  be 
consummated  solely  by  the  plenteous  outpour- 


DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS.  167 

ing  of  the  Spirit,  without  whose  working  the 
bodily  presence  of  the  Son  of  God  would  make 
little  impression  on  corrupt  humanity ;  and 
whether  the  time  is  now  fully  come ;  these 
questions  I  do  not  at  present  discuss,  on  some 
of  them  having  formed  no  conclusive  judgment, 
and  because  on  all  of  them  you  will  more 
readily  come  to  a  clear  light  and  sound  conclu- 
sion if  you  be  first  fully  persuaded  of  the  fact 
that  ihe  Jews  are  to  be  converted.  And  here, 
as  in  the  former  instance,  I  prefer  quoting, 
without  comment,  the  sure  word  of  prophecy. 

"Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  It  shall  yet 
come  to  pass  that  there  shall  come  people,  and 
the  inhabitants  of  many  cities  :  and  the  inhabi- 
tants of  one  city  shall  go  to  another,  saying, 
Let  us  go  speedily  to  pray  before  the  Lord,  and 
to  seek  the  Lord  of  Hosts  ;  I  will  go  also. 
Yea,  many  people  and  strong  nations  shall 
come  to  seek  the  Lord  of  Hosts  in  Jerusalem, 
and  to  pray  before  the  Lord.  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  of  Hosts,  In  those  days  it  shall  come  to 
pass,  that  ten  men  shall  take  hold,  out  of  all 
languages  of  the  nations,  even  shall  take  hold 
of  the  skirt  of  him  that  is  a  Jew,  saying,  We 
will  go  with  you  ;  for  we  have  heard  that  God 
is  with  you."* 

"  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that 
I  will  seek  to  destroy  all  the  nations  that  come 
*  Zech.  viii.  20—23. 


168  DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS. 

against  Jerusalem.  And  I  will  pour  upon  the 
house  of  David,  and  upon  the  inhabitants  of 
Jerusalem,  the  spirit  of  grace  and  supplications  ; 
and  they  shall  look  upon  me  whom  they  have 
pierced,  and  they  shall  mourn  for  him,  as  one 
mourneth  for  his  only  son,  and  shall  be  in  bit- 
terness for  him,  as  one  that  is  in  bitterness  for 
his  first-born.  In  that  day  shall  there  be  a 
great  mourning  in  Jerusalem,  as  the  mourning 
of  Hadadrimmon  in  the  valley  of  Megiddon. 
And  the  land  shall  mourn,  every  family  apart ; 
the  family  of  the  house  of  David  apart,  and 
their  wives  apart ;  the  family  of  the  house  of 
Nathan  apart,  and  their  wives  apart ;  the 
family  of  the  house  of  Levi  apart,  and  their 
wives  apart ;  the  family  of  Shimei  apart,  and 
their  wives  apart ;  all  the  families  that  remain, 
every  family  apart,  and  their  wives  apart.  In 
that  day  there  shall  be  a  fountain  opened  to 
the  house  of  David,  and  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Jerusalem,  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness."* 

"  For  I  would  not,  brethren,  that  ye  should 
be  ignorant  of  this  mystery,  lest  ye  should  be 
wise  in  your  own  conceits  ;  that  blindness  in 
part  is  happened  to  Israel,  until  the  fulness  of 
the  Gentiles  be  come  in.  And  so  all  Israel 
shall  be  saved These  also  have  not  be- 
lieved, that  through  your  mercy  they  also  may 
obtain  mercy.     For  God  hath  concluded  them 

*  Zech.  xii.  9—14  j  xiii.  1. 


DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS.  169 

all  in  unbelief,  that  he  might  have  mercy  upon 
all."* 

But  I  feel  that  I  would  not  be  doing  justice 
to  my  subject  if  I  ended  here.  I  doubt  not 
that  the  Jews  are  to  be  the  possessors  of  Pales- 
tine and  the  people  of  God  again.  This  is 
their  destination  ;  but  this  is  not  all.  As  was 
truly  said  in  the  opening  lecture,  "  The  Jews 
possess  no  prerogatives  for  themselves.  What- 
ever immunities  and  distinctions  they  enjoy, 
they  hold  for  the  world."  So  is  it  with  their 
destination.  God  has  great  things  in  store  for 
Israel,  for  he  has  great  things  in  store  for  all 
mankind.  And  to  understand  the  destination 
of  the  Jews  you  must  go  back  to  the  day  of 
their  original  segregation  from  the  nations,  and 
recall  God's  promise  to  the  Chaldean  shepherd, 
"  In  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  families 
of  the  earth  be  blessed."  A  promise  already 
most  bounteously  fulfilled  in  the  "one"  seed, 
"  that  is  Christ ;"  but  a  promise  whose  riches, 
as  prophecy  assures  us,  are  far  from  being  ex- 
hausted yet.  From  Isaiah,  and  Zechariah, 
and  Paul,  it  is  very  plain  that  Israel's  restora- 
tion is  to  be  the  world's  elevation  ;  that  Israel's 
ingathering  is  to  coincide  with  the  world's  great 
harvest-home.  Their  fall  was  a  blessing  to  a 
few  of  our  Gentile  families  ;  their  rising  again 
in  their  fulness  will  be  a  blessing  to  the  whole. 
*  Rom.  xi.  25,  26,  31,  32. 

15 


170  DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS. 

How  it  may  produce  its  full  effect  of  blessing-, 
I  cannot  tell ;  but,  with  Bible  help,  may  offer 
the  following  hints. 

1.  The  restoration  and  conversion  of  the 
Jews  will  be  striking  facts.  Whether  effected 
in  the  more  ordinary  ways,  or,  as  is  almost  cer- 
tain, with  miracles  intermingled,  the  result  will 
be  abundantly  remarkable.  It  is  not  probable. 
Many  of  the  Jews  sneer  at  the  devout  expecta- 
tion of  their  brethren,  that  they  will  yet  be 
planted  as  of  old  in  Palestine.  Many  of  them 
smile  at  the  idea  of  a  restoration,  simply  be- 
cause there  are  such  hindrances  in  the  way. 
Very  well.  When  the  restoration  takes  place 
it  will  be  all  the  more  wonderful.  "  When  the 
Lord  turns  the  captivity  of  Zion,  you  will  be 
like  them  that  dream.  Your  own  mouth  will 
be  filled  with  laughter,  and  it  will  be  said 
among  the  Gentiles,  The  Lord  hath  done  great 
things  for  them."  The  event  is  not  probable. 
You  do  not  all  expect  it  yourselves  ;  and  many 
Gentiles  do  not.  So  it  will  be  very  surprising 
when  it  does  take  place.  Again,  much  as 
many  of  the  Jews  desire  a  restoration,  and 
confidently  as  some  look  forward  to  it,  they  all 
with  one  accord  depreciate  conversion,  and  are 
confident  that  such  a  calamity  never  can  befal 
them.  Now,  of  all  prophetic  truths,  this  is  the 
plainest  and  most  positive  ;  and  when  it  does 
take  place — when  over  the  face  of  most  stag- 


DESTINATION  OP    THE    JEWS.  171 

gering  difficulties  and  stupendous  prejudices,  the 
great  consummation  is  brought  about — when, 
probably  all  of  a  sudden,  the  world  sees  the 
spectacle  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  with 
glistening  eyes  looking  to  the  Pierced  One,  and 
sees  all  Israel  actually  saved,  a  result  so  strange 
must  needs  be  striking.  The  moment  the  veil 
is  rent  from  Israel's  eyes,  the  veil  will  be  rent 
from  a  thousand  prophecies  ;  and,  read  in  the 
light  of  restored  and  regenerate  Judah,  the 
Word  of  God  will  sparkle  with  unwonted  cor- 
ruscations,  and  like  deep-coloured  gems  that 
look  dusty  in  cloud-light,  many  of  its  dark  say- 
ings will  brighten  up  into  its  divinest  truths, 
when  the  beams  break  forth  from  Salem.  And 
it  is  not  so  much  the  new  evidence  as  the  new 
impulse  which  this  event  will  give.  It  is  not 
so  much  that  it  will  merely  illustrate  or  fulfil 
the  prophecies,  as  that  it  will  arrest  the  world 
and  animate  the  faithful,  and  by  giving  pal- 
pable reality  to  the  things  of  faith  make  unbe- 
lief as  impracticable  as  it  is  already  inexcusa- 
ble. It  has  been  admirably  shown  in  a  recent 
essay,  that  foreign  missions  have  exerted  a 
most  quickening  power  on  domestic  Christianity ; 
and  that  every  triumph  of  the  Gospel  abroad 
has  pioneered  a  corresponding  victory  at  home. 
When  Christendom  was  stagnant,  when  preach- 
ing had  come  down  to  a  few  meagre  common- 
places,  when  ministers  preached    with   slight 


172  DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS. 

expectation  that  they  were  to  impress  or 
change  their  hearers,  and  when  hearers  heard 
with  no  intention  of  being  impressed  or  changed, 
word  came  home  that  the  gospel  was  proving 
itself  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  among 
savages,  Indians,  Esquimaux,  and  South  Sea 
Islanders.  Why  should  it  not  prove  itself  the 
same  to  the  Greek  which  it  had  proved  to  the 
barbarian  ?  The  cause  got  a  new  impulse, 
the  Gospel  got  a  new  trial,  and  the  work  of 
evangelization  went  on  with  new  success  in 
Britain.  If  this  was  the  reflex  influence  of  a 
few  pagans  converted,  what  would  be  the  effect 
of  like  conversions  among  the  Jews  ?  Would 
it  not  be  as  life  from  the  dead  to  the  once  more 
drooping  Churches  of  Christendom  ?  The 
Gospel  has  already  proved  itself  the  power  of 
God  and  the  wisdom  of  God  unto  the  salvation 
of  Gentiles,  and  that  on  a  somewhat  extensive 
scale.  But  to  complete  the  case,  let  it  prove 
itself  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God 
unto  the  salvation  of  the  Jews.  They  are 
confessedly  the  hardest  and  most  impracticable 
materials  on  which  it  has  yet  been  brought  to 
bear.  Are  they  beyond  its  influence  ?  In  the 
infancy  of  chemistry  half  the  substances  in 
nature  were  reckoned  insoluble,  not  because 
there  was  no  power  in  nature  to  dissolve  them, 
but  because  men  were  ignorant  of  that  power, 
or  knew  not  how  to  apply  it.     And  after  the 


DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS.  173 

poor  alchymist  had  laboured  in  the  fire,  heated 
his  furnace  seven  times,  and  spent  all  his  acids 
and  alkalies,  there  still  remained  in  the  alembic 
a  relentless  mass  which  laughed  at  all  his  la- 
bours; a  tiresome  earthly  residuum,  a  caput 
mortuum,  which  would  neither  evaporate,  nor 
melt,  nor  burn.  But  as  knowledge  grew,  sol- 
vents multiplied,  till  the  intractable  substances 
became  very  few.  Still,  however,  men  would 
say  that  a  thing  was  as  hard  as  adamant,  that 
you  might  as  soon  melt  marble  or  fuse  platinum 
as  make  an  impression  on  that  thing.  But 
these  comparisons  are  no  longer  significant. 
There  is  a  power  in  nature  which  can  melt 
marble,  fuse  platinum,  and  burn  the  adamant. 
In  the  infancy  of  evangelic  effort,  even  Chris- 
tians looked  despondingly  on  some  sections  of 
the  human  family  :  and  it  was  a  grave  ques- 
tion with  some  whether  it  was  better  to  extir- 
pate cannibals  or  evangelize  them  ;  whether 
the  Gospel  should  be  preached  to  the  Indians  ; 
and  a  large  mass,  consisting  of  Negroes,  and 
Hottentots,  and  "  Chineses,"  were  set  aside  as 
utterly  out  of  the  question,  a  caput  mortuum., 
of  which  nothing  could  be  made.  These  de- 
spondencies, which  were  unlawful  from  the 
moment  it  was  said,  "  Preach  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature,"  have  now  been  effectually  re- 
futed by  the  partial  success  of  the  Gospel  on 
every  creature ;  partial,  but  still  enough  to  show 
15* 


174  DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS. 

that  every  creature  is  a  fit  subject  for  the  Gos- 
pel to  act  upon.  But  I  can  quite  see  in  some 
brethren  a  suspicion  that  the  Hebrew  subject 
will  prove  refractory — that  there  is  a  peculiar 
impracticability  about  the  Jew.  Be  it  even  so : 
that  the  Jew's  heart  is  the  hardest  of  all  hearts ; 
that  peculiar  hardness  has  happened  unto  Is- 
rael. There  is  a  power,  an  agent  which  can 
dissolve  this  stony  heart ;  and  just  allow  that 
they  are  the  most  obdurate  people  in  the  world, 
and  it  follows  that  when  the  Gospel  has  proved 
itself  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God, 
to  the  salvation  of  the  Jews,  it  will  be  seen  how 
omnipotent  is  the  Gospel  of  peace  in  the  hand 
of  the  Spirit  of  Love.  When  the  Jews  are 
converted,  it  will  be  a  most  singular  event ;  the 
final  evidence  of  the  Gospel's  Divine  original, 
and  a  mighty  impulse  to  its  spread. 

2.  But,  secondly,  the  Jews  are  likely  them- 
selves to  be  most  energetic  and  efficient  evange- 
lists. Isaiah  says  (ii.  2,  3),  that,  "  in  the  last 
days  the  law  shall  go  forth  out  of  Zion,  and 
the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem."  And 
Zechariah  says,  "  Many  people  and  strong  na- 
tions shall  come  to  seek  the  Lord  of  Hosts  in 

Jerusalem,  and  to  pray  before  the  Lord Ten 

men  out  of  all  languages  of  the  nations  shall 
take  hold  of  the  skirt  of  him  that  is  a  Jew, 
saying,  We  will  go  with  you ;  for  we  have 
heard  that  God  is  with  you."  (viii.  22,  23.) 


DESTINATION   OF    THE    JEWS.  175 

Jerusalem,  by  that  time  possibly  the  great 
centre  of  wealth  and  influence,  will  be  the 
source  of  light  and  evangelization  ;  the  ema- 
nating fountain  and  the  converging  focus, 
whence  truth  shall  issue  and  whither  inquiry 
shall  return  ;  from  which  the  Word  of  the 
Lord  shall  go  forth,  and  to  which  all  tribes  of 
awakened  people  shall  go  up — the  missionary 
metropolis  of  the  world. 

3.  And  a  third  and  more  important  way  in 
which  I  believe  that  Christianity  is  to  profit  by 
the  conversion  of  the  Jews,  in  which  all  fami- 
lies of  the  earth  are  to  be  blessed  in  Abraham, 
is  that  in  that  converted  nation  we  may  expect 
to  see  a  re-production  of  Christianity  in  its  no- 
blest and  purest  style  ;  the  graces  of  the  Gospel 
exemplified  as  they  have  not  been  since  the 
day  when  the  very  chiefest  Christians  were 
Jews.  It  ought  ever  to  be  remembered,  that 
whether  for  the  purposes  of  ulterior  conversion 
of  the  world,  or  for  the  elevation  of  the  existing 
Church,  the  instrumentality  most  needed  is  a 
normal  piety  of  the  highest  type ;  a  living 
Christianity  so  full-grown,  and  so  full-hearted, 
that  no  man  shall  despise  it,  and  no  man  shall 
mistake  it.  And  in  reading  the  prophecies  I  see 
many  proofs  that  regenerate  Palestine  is  to  pre- 
sent the  world  with  a  living  epistle  largely 
written  of  this  first-rate  Christianity.  The  par- 
adisaic scenes  of  peace  and  harmony  delinea- 


176  DESTINATION    OF    THE    JEWS. 

ted,  streets  without  violence,  and  sanctuaries 
without  profanation ;  the  worshipping  con- 
course and  the  rapt  adoration,  and  the  manifes- 
ed  presence  of  Jehovah :  the  blending  of  sab- 
bath sanctity  with  week-day  activity,  bespeak 
a  piety  of  the  most  exalted  order.  And  I  stag- 
ger not  at  the  promise  because  of  what  the 
Jews  are  now — I  believe  that  they  are  much 
maligned,  and  I  also  believe  that  they  are  not 
too  moral.  But  I  also  believe  that,  though 
everything  which  prejudice  has  suspected  and 
malignity  invented  were  true,  the  miracle  of 
grace,  which  makes  them  a  pattern  to  all  peo- 
ple, will  only  be  the  more  adorable.  I  do  not 
stop  to  say  that  if  they  be  abject,  persecution 
has  made  them  so;  nor  do  I  interpose  the 
names  of  Reuchlin  and  Benezra  and  JNeander 
in  arrest  of  that  sweeping  sentence  which 
would  adjudge  them  to  irretrievable  degrada- 
tion. But  I  fall  back  on  the  unquestionable 
fact  that  the  finest  specimens  of  redeemed  and 
regenerate  humanity  which  mother  earth  has 
ever  borne  upon  her  surface,  or  received  into 
her  bosom,  are  the  men  gathered  to  their  fa- 
thers in  the  sepulchres  of  Israel,  the  saints 
that  sleep  in  Palestine.  I  do  not  forget  that  the 
Church's  finest  models  and  most  stimulating 
examples  are  men  who  answered  to  the  name 
of  Jew.  And  just  as  from  the  indevotion  of  a 
prayer-restraining   and   irreverent  age,  I  look 


DESTINATION    OP    THE    JEWS.  177- 

back  to  the  son  of  Jesse  praising  seven  times 
a-day,  and  soliciting  the  lyre  familiar  with  his 
ecstasies  to  a  strain  more  seraphic  yet,  till  the 
labouring  lyre  could  do  no  more,  and  his  own 
awe-struck  hand  trembled  into  silence ;  so  from 
the  stinted  devotion  and  phlegmatic  praises  of 
our  Gentile  Churches,  I  look  forward  in  hope 
to  the  day  when  other  Davids  shall  lead  the 
choir,  and  sweet  singers  of  Israel  sound  the 
key-note  of  the  Church's  gratitude ;  and  if 
without  the  temple  pomp,  at  least  with  Hebrew 
fervour,  we  shall  answer  one  another,  "  Praise 
ye  the  Lord  for  his  mercy  endureth  forever." 
And  just  as  from  the  selfishness  and  caution,  and 
wary  worldly  wisdom  of  modern  preaching,  I 
look  back  with  amazement  at  that  meteor  of 
mercy,  that  burning  and  shining  light,  who, 
self-forgetful  and  self-spending,  flamed  round 
the  benighted  earth,  knowing  and  making 
nothing  known  but  Christ,  then  exhausted, 
shot  back  into  that  sun  which  had  fired  him  at 
the  first ;  so  looking  round  on  our  glow-worm 
regiment  to  the  leeward  of  the  hedge,  and  then 
looking  out  on  dark  Britain  and  a  darker  world, 
I  am  ready  to  exclaim,  "The  Lord  send  us 
another  Jew  like  Paul."  And  then,  when  I  look 
round  on  the  Church  of  Christ  comminuted 
into  a  thousand  fragments,  and  every  day  shat- 
tering more  and  more  the  stone  which  ought 
to  fill  the  earth — when  I  think  how  fallen  out 


178  DESTINATION   OF    THE   JEWS. 

by  the  way  are  the  pilgrims,  the  brethren  jour- 
neying to  the  same  land  of  peace  and  love,  I 
look  back  with  wistfulness  to  the  Daniels  and 
Johns  of  better  days,  who  exerted  such  healing 
and  harmonizing  influence  on  all  their  coevals  ; 
and  when  I  think  of  it  as  one  most  likely 
source  of  christian  union,  I  pray  the  Lord  to 
hasten  in  his  time  the  day  when  Ephraim 
shall  no  longer  envy  Judah,  but  from  Ephraim 
and  Judah,  converted  and  restored,  shall  come 
forth  a  company,  the  models  of  the 
Church,  the  missionaries  of  the  world. 


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